OF  tf  HE 
UNIVEBSITY 

OF 


MASTERPIECES   OF 

MODERN  ORATORY 


EDITED   BY 


EDWIN  DuBOIS   SHURTER 

ASSOCIATE  PROFESSOR  OF  PUBLIC  SPEAKING  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  TEXAS 


GINN  &  COMPANY 

BOSTON  -  NEW   YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 


COPYRIGHT,  1906,  BY 
EDWIN  DuBOIS  SHURTER 


ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 
6l2.2 


Cftc  fltfrcnicum 

GINN  &  COMPANY  •   PRO 
PRIETORS  •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

The  fifteen  orations  in  this  volume  are  intended  to  furnish 
models  for  students  of  Oratory,  Argumentation,  and  Debate. 
For  the  most  part  the  orations  are  given  without  abridgment. 
In  making  the  selection  the  aim  has  been  to  include  only  ora 
tions  that  (i)  deal  with  subjects  of  either  contemporary  or 
historical  interest,  (2)  were  delivered  by  men  eminent  as  ora 
tors,  and  (3)  are  of  inherent  literary  value.  There  are  of 
course  many  orators  and  orations  in  modem  times  that  fulfill 
these  tests,  but  it  is  believed  that  the  orations  selected  are 
fairly  representative.  A  further  aim  has  been  to  secure  such 
variety  in  the  selections  as  to  cover  in  a  single  volume  the  fields 
of  deliberative,  forensic,  pulpit,  and  demonstrative  oratory, 
and  so  to  meet  the  needs  of  classes  both  in  argumentation  and 
oratorical  composition. 

If  we  give  relatively  less  attention  nowadays  to  the  art  side 
of  oratory,  —  the  manner  of  delivery,  —  there  is  all  the  more 
need  of  studying  the  matter,  —  the  invention,  organization, 
and  expression  of  the  thought.  The  young  men  in  our  schools 
and  colleges,  who  in  a  small  or  large  way  are  bound  to  be 
called  upon  to  speak  in  public,  should  be  taught  how  to  com 
pose  for  a  hearer  as  distinguished  from  a  reader  — how  to 
construct  an  oration  as  distinguished  from  an  essay.  To  this 
end  oratorical  models  should  be  critically  studied  in  order 
that  the  student  may  learn  and  appreciate  how  masters  have 
wielded  the  language  for  the  purposes  of  conviction  and  per 
suasion.  And^  this  should  be  made  an  intensive  rather  than 
an  extensive  process.  To  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
one  great  oration  is  better  than  a  cursory  reading  of  many 


M  /n  r- 


IV 


PREFACE 


orations,    and    especially    better    than    reading   the    extracts 
contained  in  books  of  "  choice  selections." 

With  a  view  of  such  intensive  study  each  oration  in  this 
volume  is  preceded  by  an  introduction,  and  bibliographies  and 
notes  are  given  on  pages  339  to  369  inclusive.  In  the  notes, 
which  are  here  and  there  in  the  form  of  suggestive  questions, 
the  editor  has  tried  to  incorporate  only  such  comments  as  will 
illuminate  the  text  for  the  average  student,  and  has  tried  to 
avoid  explanation  of  the  familiar  or  obvious.  To  avoid  confu 
sion  to  the  general  reader,  the  notes  are  put  by  themselves  in 
the  back  part  of  the  book  ;  and  even  for  the  special  student, 
each  oration  should  first  be  read  independently  of  the  notes, 
whatever  use  may  subsequently  be  made  of  them. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  made  to  Little,  Brown  &  Co.  for 
permission  to  use  the  text  of  Webster's  speech  as  contained  in 
the  volume,  Webster's  Great  Speeches  and  Orations;  to  the 
O.  S.  Hubbell  Company,  publishers  of  The  Lincoln- Douglas 
Debates,  for  the  text  of  Lincoln's  speech  ;  to  Lee  &  Shepard, 
publishers  of  the  Speeches,  Lectures,  and  Letters  of  Wendell 
Phillips,  for  the  oration  by  Phillips  ;  to  Harper  &  Brothers, 
publishers  of  the  Orations  and  Addresses  of  George  William 
Curtis,,  for  the  oration  by  Curtis;  to  Fox,  Duffield  &  Co., 
publishers  of  Watterson's  Compromises  of  Life,  for  the  speech 
by  Watterson ;  to  Honorable  W.  Bourke  Cockran,  for  the  use 
of  his  oration  on  Marshall ;  to  Callaghan  &  Co.,  publishers 
of  Dillon's  John  Marshall,  which  contains  Mr.  Cockran's 
oration  ;  to  Bishop  J.  L.  Spalding  for  permission  to  use  his 
address  on  "Opportunity,"  contained  in  a  volume  entitled 
Opportunity,  and  Other  Essays  and  Addresses,  published  by 
A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. ;  and  to  the  Reverend  Dr.  Henry  van 
Dyke  for  the  use  of  his  baccalaureate  sermon  on  "Salt." 

E.  D.  S. 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  TEXAS 
September,  1906 


CONTENTS 


CONCILIATION  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  COLONIES  — 

EDMUND  BURKE  PAGE 

Introduction 3 

Text ii 

Notes 339 

THE     MURDER     OF     CAPTAIN     JOSEPH     WHITE - 
DANIEL  WEBSTER 

Introduction          . 53 

Text 65 

Notes 345 

"A     HOUSE     DIVIDED     AGAINST    ITSELF    CANNOT 
STAND"  —  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Introduction 129 

Text 133 

Reply  by  Douglas 142 

Rejoinder  by  Lincoln 146 

Notes 348 

THE  SCHOLAR  IN  A  REPUBLIC  —  WENDELL  PHILLIPS 

Introduction .         •         •  153 

Text 159 

Notes 350 

THE    PUBLIC    DUTY    OF    EDUCATED    MEN  — GEORGE 
WILLIAM  CURTIS 

Introduction i#9 

Text     . 192 

Notes 353 

v 


vi  CONTENTS 

THE    RACE    PROBLEM    IN    THE    SOUTH  — HENRY  W. 
GRADY 


PAGE 

Introduction 211 

Text 


214 

Notes   . 355 

THE    PURITAN   AND   THE    CAVALIER  — HENRY  WAT- 

TERSON 


Introduction         .         ...         .         .         .  2-i< 

Text     •         •         .         .    " .237 

Notes ....     356 


EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE  — JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL 

Intrc 
Text 


Introduction          .         .         .         .         .  .  >     243 


•         •         -244 

Notes '    .        .•'...     357 


EULOGY    OF    ULYSSES    S.    GRANT  — HORACE    PORTER 

Intrc 
Text 


Introduction '  .         .     257 


.         .         .         .259 
Notes   ........       .. 


THE     IMMORTALITY     OF     GOOD     DEEDS  —  THOMAS 
BRACKETT  REED 


Notes 


358 


Introduction          ......         ...  265 

Text      .......    ..•'.'.         !  266 

Notes  ........         .         .         .  360 

TRIBUTE  TO  MARCUS  A.  HANNA—  ALBERT  JEREMIAH 
BEVERIDGE 

Introduction  .,        .....  273 

Text     ......        -         •         •         '    .     '•  274 


MARSHALL     AND     THE     CONSTITUTION—  WILLIAM 

BOURKE    COCKRAN 

Introduction          .........     279 

Text     ...........     280 

Notes   ...........     -564 


CONTENTS  vii 

INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION  —  CARL  SCHURZ  PAGE 

Introduction         ....  2Q~ 

.  :  :  :  :  396 

.      .  .        .                                   .  .     364 

OPPORTUNITY  -JOHN  LANCASTER  SPALDING 

Introduction         ......  ,,, 

' 


367 

SALT  —  HENRY  VAN  DYKE 

Introduction  "  -- 


326 

368 


MASTERPIECES   OF    MODERN 
ORATORY 


CONCILIATION  WITH   THE  AMERI 
CAN  COLONIES 

EDMUND  BURKE 

ON    MOVING    HIS    RESOLUTIONS    FOR    CONCILIATION    WITH    THE    COLO 
NIES.     HOUSE  OF  COMMONS,  MARCH  22,  1775. 

INTRODUCTION 

Edmund  Burke,  statesman,  orator,  and  man  of  letters,  was  born 
in  Dublin,  Ireland,  January  12,  1729.  His  father,  a  Protestant, 
was  a  lawyer  with  a  good  practice.  His  mother  was  of  Irish 
descent  and  a  Catholic.  In  1741  he  was  sent  to  school  at  Balli- 
tore,  under  the  tutorship  of  one  Abraham  Shackleton,  a  Quaker 
from  Yorkshire.  In  1743  he  entered  Trinity  College,  Dublin. 
During  the  five  years  spent  there  Burke  did  not  distinguish  him 
self  as  a  student,  but  he  spent  much  time  in  reading  widely  in 
history,  politics,  literature,  and  philosophy,  —  a  habit  that  was  con 
tinued  throughout  his  life.  Burke's  father  intended  that  his  son 
should  be  a  lawyer,  and  in  1750  Burke  was  sent  to  London  to  pur 
sue  his  legal  studies.  Except  for  the  circumstance  of  his  marriage 
in  1756,  his  life  during  the  nine  years  following  his  removal  to 
London  is  enveloped  in  almost  complete  obscurity.  He  was 
entered-  at  the  Middle  Temple,  but  was  never  admitted  to  practice. 
General  reading  doubtless  claimed  his  attention  more  than  the  law. 
He  had  a  strong  literary  bent,  and  we  find  him  passing  his  sum 
mers  in  retired  country  villages,  reading  and  writing  with  desul 
tory  industry.  Having  displeased  his  father  by  failing  to  enter  the 
legal  profession,  Burke  found  his  allowance  withdrawn,  and  was 
forced  to  depend  chiefly  on  his  pen  for  a  living.  In  1765  he 
became  private  secretary  to  Lord  Rockingham,  the  head  of  the 
new  Whig  ministry.  Soon  after  he  was  returned  to  Parliament  as 
a  member  from  Wendover,  and  later  from  Bristol.  He  took  his 

3 


4     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

seat  in  time  to  participate  in  the  debates  which  preceded  the  repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766,  and  was  continuously  in  Parliament 
from  this  time  until  1794.  He  died  in  1797. 

Some*  one  has  said  that  a  passion  for  order  and  a  passion  for 
justice  were  the  master  motives  of  Burke's  life  and  thought.  It  is 
interesting  to  see  how  these  master  passions  expressed  themselves  in 
dealing  with  the  three  great  problems  in  government  which  arose  dur 
ing  his  career,  —  the  problems  of  America,  of  India,  and  of  France. 

In  dealing  with  America  Burke  was  unquestionably  at  his  best. 
His  highly  developed  sense  of  justice  led  him  to  protest  against 
the  paternal  policy  and  high-handed  methods  of  George  the  Third 
and  his  Tory  supporters.  Burke  felt  that  these  methods  threatened 
liberty  not  only  in  the  colonies,  but  also  in  England ;  hence  his 
plea  for  justice  to  the  colonists  comported  with  his  passion  for 
order.  His  plan  would  not  violate  the  principles  of  the  English 
constitution,  while  it  would  insure  order  and  tranquillity  in  the 
colonies.  Burke  was  not,  however,  a  thoroughgoing  reformer  in 
the  modern  sense.  He  has  been  called  the  Great  Conservative. 
The  basis  of  his  plea  for  conciliation  with  the  American  colonies 
fell  far  short  of  the  principles  enunciated  in  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  When  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed  the  radical 
wing  of  the  Whig  party,  led  by  Pitt  and  Fox,  would  have  gone 
farther  and  acknowledged  the  absolute  injustice  of  taxation  with 
out  representation.  Not  so  with  Burke ;  the  declaration  of  this 
principle  would  have  been  to  him  a  too  violent  breaking  with  the 
traditions  of  the  English  constitution,  as  he  conceived  them.  He 
therefore  warmly  supported  the  Declaratory  Act  coupled  with  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  which  asserted  "  the  supreme  authority 
of  Parliament  over  the  colonies,  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  In  both 
of  his  speeches  on  America  Burke  refuses  to  discuss  the  question 
of  taxation  without  representation.  That,  he  said,  was  not  the 
main  issue.  And  yet  that  was  the  issue  which  the  colonists  raised, 
and  the  issue  which  divided  the  English  Whigs.  Burke  based 
his  arguments  solely  on  expediency,  so  that,  as  Goldwin  Smith 
has  pointed  out,  "  you  cannot  extract  from  him  any  definite  theory 
of  the  colonial  relation."  His  conservative  attitude,  springing  from 
his  passion  for  order,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  strong  influence  in 
the  disruption  of  the  Whig  party,  thus  preventing  a  solid  front  in 
the  opposition  to  the  policy  of  George  the  Third. 


BURKE  5 

When  the  American  colonies  were  forever  lost  Burke  turned 
his  attention  to  India.  For  many  years  he  had  studied  the  history 
and  the  workings  of  English  rule  in  India,  and  when,  in  1786,  he 
began  a  nine  years'  fight  against  the  injustice  and  corruption  in 
the  government  of  that  country,  he  was  unquestionably  the  best 
informed  man  in  England  on  Indian  affairs.  In  this  contest,  as  in 
the  case  of  America,  Burke's  passion  for  order  and  for  justice  did 
not  conflict ;  and  although  his  efforts  to  impeach  Hastings  techni 
cally  failed,  the  result  was  a  moral  victory,  for  his  masterful  array 
of  facts  and  splendid  oratory  led  to  government  reforms  on  a  large 
scale  in  India. 

In  1789  came  the  crash  of  the  French  Revolution.  In  dealing 
with  the  questions  thereby  involved,  Burke's  natural  conservatism 
became  yet  more  predominant,  for  he  was  growing  old.  His  pas 
sion  for  order  prevented  a  calm  consideration  of  justice  as  between 
oppressor  and  oppressed.  He  believed  the  Revolution  to  be  the 
work  of  atheists  and  theorists,  who  were  waging  war  upon  the 
institutions  which  preserve  order  in  society,  —  upon  king,  nobles, 
and  clergy.  So  when  in  1790  his  "  Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in 
France  "  appeared,  the  Tories  and  King  George,  whom  Burke  had 
stoutly  opposed  in  the  American  policy,  now  hailed  him  as  their 
shield  and  defender.  As  the  Revolution  developed  its  worst  fea 
tures,  Burke's  hatred  of  it  grew,  and  his  non-judicial  attitude, 
violence  of  temper,  and  fierce  invective,  mark  a  decline  of  those 
powers  of  reasoning  and  persuasion  which  appear  at  their  best  in 
the  speech  on  "  Conciliation." 

The  leading  characteristics,  then,  of  Burke's  political  philosophy 
are  opposed  to  much  that  is  fundamental  in  modern  systems.  He 
belonged  to  both  the  old  order  and  the  new,  —  planting  himself  on 
the  old  and  prophesying  the  new.  All  in  all,  his  title  to  fame  as  a 
statesman  lies  not  so  much  in  his  immediate  accomplishment  as  in 
his  influence,  —  his  persistent  and  eloquent  advocacy  of  those  high 
and  noble  principles  which  find  justification  by  their  adoption  in 
modern  times.  Burke  brought  to  politics  a  terror  of  crime,  a  deep 
humanity,  and  a  keen  sensibility.  "No  one,"  says  Morley,  "has 
ever  come  so  close  to  the  details  of  practical  politics,  and  at  the 
same  time  remembered  that  these  can  only  be  understood  and 
dealt  with  by  the  aid  of  the  broad  conceptions  of  political  philos 
ophy."  "  He  was,"  says  Buckle,1  "  Bacon  alone  excepted,  the 
1  Civilization  in  England,  chap.  vii. 


6     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

greatest  political  thinker  who  ever  devoted  himself  to  the  practice 
of  English  politics." 

As  an  orator,  Burke  did  not  excel  in  delivery,  thqugh  often  very 
effective.  "The  heavy,  Quaker-like  figure,  the  scratch  wig,  the 
round  spectacles,  the  cumbrous  roll  of  paper  which  loaded  Burke's 
pocket,"1  were  not  prepossessing.  He  was  tall  though  not  robust, 
angular  in  his  movements,  with  a  somewhat  harsh  voice  that  never 
lost  a  strong  Irish  accent,  and  a  temper  which,  when  aroused  by 
opposition  or  criticism,  often  weakened  the  effect  of  what  he  said. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  possessed  many  qualities,  both  natural  and 
acquired,  which  fitted  him  for  his  career  as  an  orator.  His  Protes 
tant-Catholic  parentage,  together  with  the  early  association  with 
his  Quaker  tutor,  conduced  to  broad-mindedness  and  toleration  in 
an  age  of  intense  religious  bigotry,  and  gave  him  sympathy  with 
struggles  for  liberty  and  hatred  of  all  forms  of  oppression.  Readi 
ness  in  thinking  on  his  feet  was  aided  by  early  practice  in  a  pri 
vate  debating  club,  and  later  in  the  Robin  Hood  Club  in  London. 
Withal,  the  impress  of  his  native  genius  was  powerfully  aided 
by  his  unflagging  industry,— his  thoroughness  in  getting  up  his 
cases.  All  his  great  speeches  reveal  a  marvelous  mastery  of  the 
facts,  —  a  detailed  and  comprehensive  knowledge  which  make 
them,  as  he  himself  said  of  the  utterances  of  Alfred  the  Great, 
"  both  minute  and  sublime." 

As  to  the  immediate  influence  of  Burke's  oratory,  there  is  much 
conflicting  testimony  among  his  contemporaries.  Prior,  in  his 
Life  of -Burke,  quotes  Mr.  Curran  to  the  effect  that  "  as  an  orator 
Burke  surpassed  all  his  contemporaries,  and  was  perhaps  never 
exceeded."  And  Grattan  says :  "  Burke  is  unquestionably  the  first 
orator  among  the  Commons  of  England  ;  boundless  in  knowledge, 
instantaneous  in  his  apprehensions,  and  abundant  in  his  language. 
He  speaks  with  profound  attention  and  acknowledged  superiority, 
notwithstanding  the  want  of  energy,  grace,  and  elegance  in  his 
manner."  Erskine  said  to  Mr.  Rush,  the  American  minister :  «  I 
was  in  the  House  when  Burke  made  his  great  speech  on  American 
Conciliation,  —  the  greatest  he  ever  made.  He  drove  everybody 
away.  When  I  read  it,  I  read  it  over  and  over  again ;  I  could 
hardly  think  of  anything  else." 

Erskine's  testimony  furnishes  the  key  to  a  just  estimate  of  Burke's 
oratory.  Judged  by  its  ultimate  influence,  he  was  unquestionably 

1  Green,  Short  History  of  the  English  People,  p.  770. 


BURKE  7 

the  greatest  orator  England  has  ever  produced.  And  yet  it  must 
be  admitted  that  his  speeches  were  generally  unsuited  to  the 
needs  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Burke  was  an  orator  rather  than 
a  debater,  a  statesman  rather  than  a  politician,  the  champion  of  a 
principle  rather  than  the  legislative  manipulator.  His  speeches 
are  largely  political  lectures ;  hence  his  title  of  Philosopher- 
Statesman.  Unlike  Fox,  Burke  was  not  content  to  seize  upon 
the  strong  points  of  a  case  and  cast  aside  intermediate  thoughts. 
His  exuberant  fancy  and  wide  knowledge  led  him  to  adduce 
details,  illustrations,  repetitions,  maxims,  and  figures,  which  were  so 
interwoven  with  his  main  arguments  that  his  speeches  were  apt  to 
weary  men  who  cared  for  nothing,  and  could  not  be  expected  to 
care  for  anything,  but  the  question  before  the  House  and  the  most 
expeditious  way  to  settle  it. 

Though  fraught  with  all  learning,  yet  straining  his  throat 
To  persuade  Tommy  Townshend  to  lend  him  a  vote ; 
Who,  too  deep  for  his  hearers,  still  went  on  refining, 
And  thought  of  convincing,  while  they  thought  of  dining.1 

Johnson  says  that  Burke's  early  speeches  "  filled  the  town  with 
wonder,"  but  adds  that  "  he  spoke  too  often  and  too  long."  Not 
that  his  speeches  always  went  wide  of  the  mark  in  delivery,  for 
they  were  sometimes  remarkably  effective  ;  but  Burke  frequently 
combined  his  thoughts  and  knowledge  in  propositions  so  weighty 
and  strong  that  the  minds  of  ordinary  hearers  were  not  on  the 
instant  prepared  for  them.  Boswell  once  asked  him  why  he  took 
so  much  pains  with  his  speeches,  knowing  that  not  one  vote  would 
be  gained  by  them.  Burke  replied  that  his  reputation  was  at  stake, 
and  further,  that  although  the  House  might  not  grant  his  whole 
contention,  a  law  was  frequently  so  modified  as  to  be  less  oppres 
sive.  "  Aye,  sir,"  Johnson  broke  in,  "  and  there  is  a  gratification 
of  pride.  Though  we  cannot  outvote  them,  we  will  outargue 
them."  "  Outarguing,"  says  Morley,  "  is  not  the  right  word.  Burke 
surrenders  himself  wholly  to  the  matter,  and  follows  up,  though 
with  a  strong  and  close  tread,  all  the  excursions  to  which  it  may 
give  rise  in  an  elastic  intelligence."  Yet  always  the  "strong  and 
close  tread."  Take  the  speech  on  Conciliation,  for  example.  What 
ever  may  be  the  intricacies  of  its  details,  and  although  the  solidity 

1  From  Goldsmith's  Retaliation. 


8      CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

of  the  structure  may  be  hidden  by  flowers,  yet,  like  a  great  cathe 
dral,  throughout  the  whole  there  is  a  massive  unity  of  design. 

It  is  the  literary  quality  of  Burke's  speeches,  then,  that  renders 
them  of  interest  to-day  and  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the  perpetuity 
of  his  fame  as  an  orator.  The  leading  characteristics  of  his  subject- 
matter  and  style  (already  incidentally  referred  to)  are  : 

1.  Thoroughness  of  treatment.    This  manifests  itself  in  a  broad 
comprehensiveness  joined  to  an  amplitude  of  detail,  —  in  general 
ization    coupled    with   exhaustiveness.    Burke    has   been    called 
"  myriad-minded."    Both  depth  and  breadth  are  shown  in  the  treat 
ment  of  every  subject  he  discussed. 

2.  Rhetorical  excellence.    This  was  secured  by  much  practice  in 
writing.    His  principal  speeches  were  carefully  prepared  in  advance, 
though  not  always  rigidly  adhered  to  in  delivery ;  hence  an  excel 
lence  in  form  and  finish  which  could  not  have  been  attained  in 
extemporaneous  efforts.     He  always  wrote,  however,  with  an  audi 
ence  in  mind.    Like  Macaulay,  his  prevailing  style  suggests  the 
speaker.    As   we  have    seen,    the    finished   elaborateness   of   his 
speeches  were  a  drawback  in  delivery,  and  occasionally  the  reader 
nowadays  feels  the  justice  of  Johnson's  stricture,  that  "  he  some 
times  talked  partly  from  ostentation " ;  or  of  Hazlitt's  criticism, 
that  he  seemed  to  be  "  perpetually  calling  the  Speaker  out  to  dance 
a  minuet  with  him  before  he  begins."    But  while  there  are  pas 
sages  here  and  there  that  may  warrant  such  censure,  —  evident 
self-consciousness  and  a  lack  of  ease  and  delicacy,  —  yet  the  dom 
inant  quality  of  his  style  contradicts  the  idea  of  the  mere  rhetori 
cian  dealing  in  fine  phrases,  but  rather  reveals  the  master  wielding 
language  to  subserve  a  controlling  purpose. 

3.  Figurative  language.    Burke's  fertility  of  imagery,  compari 
sons,  analogies,  and  illustrations,  enabled  him  to  exhaust  a  subject 
without  tediousness,  so  that  we  have  much  reiteration  and  reen- 
forcement  without  mere  repetition.     His  idea  of  a  truly  fine  sen 
tence,  as  once  stated  to  a  friend,  consists  in  a  "  union  of  thought, 
feeling,  and  imagery,  —  of  a  striking  truth  and  a  corresponding 
sentiment,  rendered  doubly  striking  by  the  force  and  beauty  of 
figurative  language."     In  such   sentences   Burke's  speeches  and 
writings  abound.    He  is  no  doubt  excessively  ornate  at  times,  his 
figures  being  placed  in  such  bold  relief  or  dwelt  upon  so  long  that 
the  primary  idea  is  lost  sight  of  in  the    image.     We  find  great 
extremes  of  imagery,  from  his  much-admired  picture  of  the  queen 


BURKE  9 

of  France,  as  he  saw  her  "  just  above  the  horizon,  decorating  and 
cheering  the  elevated  sphere  she  had  just  begun  to  move  in,  glit 
tering  like  the  morning  star,  full  of  life  and  splendor  and  joy,"  or 
of  friendship  as  "  the  soft  green  of  the  soul,  on  which  the  eye  loves 
to  repose,"  to  Lord  Chatham's  administration  "  pigging  together  in 
the  same  truckle-bed,"  —  and  other  comparisons  yet  more  vulgar. 
While  a  master  of  the  decorative  style,  Burke  does  not  always 
escape  the  faults  that  usually  accompany  an  abundance  of  figures. 
His  imagination  seemed  to  need  the  restraining  and  chastening 
influence  of  a  critical  situation,  such  as  was  afforded  in  the  efforts 
for  "  conciliation  "  with  America. 

4.  Command  of  words.    In  his    deliberative  speeches  Burke's 
tendency,  as  we  have  seen,  was  to  overload  his  main  arguments 
with  too  many  collateral  topics.    Likewise  his  sentences  frequently 
contain  secondary  thoughts  —  qualifying  and  modifying  clauses  — 
which  tend  to  weaken  the  blow  by  dividing  it.    This  method  of 
exhaustivehess  in  treatment  required  the  use  of  many  words  ;  but 
though   copious   in  language,   he   is    rarely  verbose.    Though  he 
usually  develops  every  phase  of  his  subject,  he  always  illuminates 

'it.  His  multifarious  ideas  always  find  fitting  expression.  By  the 
introduction  of  a  fresher  and  more  natural  diction  Burke  gave 
a  lasting  stimulus  to  English  prose  literature,  his  writings  and 
speeches  —  notably  the  speech  in  this  volume  —  being  studied  as 
models  in  present-day  English. 

5.  Passion.    It  was  his  passion  for  order  and  justice,  previously 
mentioned,  that  inspired  his  commanding  and  noble  passages  and 
colored  the  words  in  which  they  were  expressed  ;  so  that  we  are 
made  to  feel  that  the  more  magnificent  passages  must  have  been 
written  in  moments  of  absolute  abandonment  to  feeling.    It  was 
his  passion,  after  all,  that  produced  his  style  —  the  amplitude,  the 
weightiness,  the  high  flight,  and  the  grandeur  that  comported  with 
his  imperial  themes  —  and  makes  his  productions  now  worth  while. 

To  summarize:  As  an  orator,  Burke  was  outclassed  by  Pitt, 
Fox,  and  Sheridan  in  immediate  influence  upon  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  but  he  far  surpassed  them  all  in  his  ultimate  influence.  "  He 
had  not  the  impetuous  and  splendid  eloquence  of  Chatham,  nor 
the  remarkable  skill  in  debate  of  Fox,  but  in  learning,  in  the  power 
of  clothing  great  thoughts  in  the  most  appropriate  words,  and  of 
producing  speeches  which  were  even  more  interesting  when  read 
than  when  they  were  delivered,  he  far  surpassed  them  both." 


10     CONCILIATION   WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

Macaulay  speaks  of  him  as  "  superior,  in  aptitude  of  comprehen 
sion  and  richness  of  imagination,  to  every  orator,  ancient  or 
modern." 

As  a  man,  all  that  we  know  of  Burke  is  of  good  repute.  Some 
of  his  contemporary  political  opponents  attempted  to  impeach  his 
honesty  because  of  his  extravagances,  and  later  critics  have 
essayed  to  cast  a  shadow  over  his  early  life  in  London,  concerning 
which  Burke  always  maintained  a  dignified  silence ;  but  there  is  no 
evidence  to  substantiate  these  charges.  There  is  no  reason  for 
doubting  that  the  noble  thoughts  and  high  principles  which 
Burke  enunciated,  emanated  from  an  earnest  mind  and  a  sound 
character.  He  has  therefore  wielded  an  influence  that  has  not  yet 
by  any  means  spent  its  force.  The  consensus  of  opinion  points  to 
Burke  as  an  abiding  name  in  history.  Wordsworth  believed  him  to 
be  "  by  far  the  greatest  man  of  his  age,"  and  Macaulay  considered 
him  "  the  greatest  man  since  Milton."  "  He  is  not  only  the  first 
man  in  the  House  of  Commons,"  said  Johnson,  his  political  oppo 
nent,  "he  is  the  first  man  everywhere."  "A  gentleman,"  said 
Sheridan,  "  whose  abilities,  happily  for  the  glory  of  the  age  in 
which  we  live,  are  not  entrusted  to  the  perishable  eloquence  of  the 
day,  but  shall  live  to  be  the  admiration  of  that  hour  when  all  of  us 
shall  be  mute,  and  most  of  us  forgotten." 

It  is  a  mark  of  Burke's  singular  and  varied  genius  that  hardly 
any  two  people  agree  precisely  as  to  which  of  his  productions 
should  be  considered  the  masterpiece.  Each  great  essay  or  speech 
that  he  composed  is  the  rival  of  every  other.  But  his  speech  on 
Conciliation  has  perhaps  been  most  universally  admired,  —  "  the 
wisest  in  its  temper,  the  most  closely  logical  in  its  reasoning,  the 
amplest  in  appropriate  topics,  the  most  generous  and  conciliatory 
in  the  substance  of  its  appeals." 

When  this  speech  was  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
events  in  the  colonies  were  fast  hastening  toward  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  The  first  Continental  Congress  had  ^met,  and 
within  a  month  the  battles  of  Concord  and  Lexington  were  fought. 
On  February  20,  1775,  Lord  North,  then  Prime  Minister,  brought 
forward  so-called  "  Propositions  for  Conciliating  the  Differences 
with  America."  Burke  seized  the  opportunity  to  propose  a  method 
of  conciliation  that  might  be  really  effective ;  for,  as  he  shows  in 
the  speech  following  (paragraphs  63-76),  Lord  North's  plan  was 


BURKE  H 

a  scheme  to  divide  and  conquer.  Burke  proposed  that  instead  of 
imposing  taxes  the  colonies  be  granted  the  opportunity  of  taxing 
themselves,  and  trust  the  result  to  the  natural  loyalty  of  a  kindred 
people.  He  waived  all  discussion  of  the  right of  taxation,  but  based 
his  argument  solely  on  expediency.  But  it  is  not  Burke's  partic 
ular  plan  —  for  that  may  have  been  impracticable  —  that  chiefly 
interests  and  holds  us  now  ;  it  is  rather  the  high  and  noble  principles 
underlying  such  plan,  and  the  wise  political  maxims  with  which  the 
speech  abounds,  —  maxims  which  have  no  doubt  been  quoted  by 
succeeding  statesmen  more  fully  and  frequently  than  in  the  case 
of  any  other  speech  in  oratorical  literature. 

i .  I  hope,  Sir,  that  notwithstanding  the  austerity  of  the  Chair, 
your  good  nature  will  incline  you  to  some  degree  of  indulgence 
towards  human  frailty.    You  will  not  think  it  unnatural  that 
those  who  have  an  object  depending,  which  strongly  engages 
their  hopes  and  fears,  should  be  somewhat  inclined  to  super-    5 
stition.    As  I  came  into  the  House  full  of  anxiety  about  the 
event  of  my  motion,  I  found,  to  my  infinite   surprise,  that 
the  grand  penal  bill,  by  which  we  had  passed  sentence  on  the 
trade  and  sustenance  of  America,  is  to  be  returned  to  us  from 
the  other  House.    I  do  confess  I  could  not  help  looking  on  10 
this  event  as  a  fortunate  omen.    I  look  upon  it  as  a  sort  of 
providential  favor,  by  which  we  are  put  once  more  in  possession 
of  our  deliberative  capacity  upon  a  business  so  very  question 
able  in  its  nature,  so  very  uncertain  in  its  issue.    By  the  return 
of  this  bill,  which  seemed  to  have  taken  its  flight  forever,  we  15 
are  at  this  very  instant  nearly  as  free  to  choose  a  plan  for  our 
American  Government  as  we  were  on  the  first  day  of  the  ses 
sion.    If,  Sir,  we  incline  to  the  side  of  conciliation,  we  are  not 
at  all  embarrassed  (unless  we  please  to  make  ourselves  so)  by 
any  incongruous  mixture  of  coercion  and  restraint.    We  are  20 
therefore  called  upon,  as  it  were  by  a  superior  warning  voice, 
again   to  attend  to  America ;    to  attend  to   the  whole  of  it 
together;  and  to  review  the  subject  with  an  unusual  degree 
of  care  and  calmness. 


12     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

2.  Surely  it  is  an  awful  subject,  or  there  is  none  so  on  this 
side  of  the  grave.    When  I  first  had  the  honor  of  a  seat  in  this 
House,  the  affairs  of  that  continent  pressed  themselves  upon 
us  as  the  most  important  and  most  delicate  object  of  Parlia- 

5  mentary  attention.  My  little  share  in  this  great  deliberation 
oppressed  me.  I  found  myself  a  partaker  in  a  very  high  trust; 
and,  having  no  sort  of  reason  to  rely  on  the  strength  of  my 
natural  abilities  for  the  proper  execution  of  that  trust,  I  was 
obliged  to  take  more  than  common  pains  to  instruct  myself  in 

10  everything  which  relates  to  our  colonies.  I  was  not  less  under 
the  necessity  of  forming  some  fixed  ideas  concerning  the  gen 
eral  policy  of  the  British  Empire.  Something  of  this  sort 
seemed  to  be  indispensable,  in  order,  amidst  so  vast  a  fluctua 
tion  of  passions  and  opinions,  to  concentre  my  thoughts,  to 

15  ballast  my  conduct,  to  preserve  me  from  being  blown  about  by 
every  wind  of  fashionable  doctrine.  I  really  did  not  think  it 
safe  or  manly  to  have  fresh  principles  to  seek  upon  every  fresh 
mail  which  should  arrive  from  America. 

3.  At  that  period  I  had  the  fortune  to  find  myself  in  perfect 
20  concurrence  with  a  large  majority  in  this  House.    Bowing  under 

that  high  authority,  and  penetrated  with  the  sharpness  and 
strength  of  that  early  impression,  I  have  continued  ever  since, 
without  the  least  deviation,  in  my  original  sentiments.  Whether 
this  be  owing  to  an  obstinate  perseverance  in  error,  or  to  a 
25  religious  adherence  to  what  appears  to  me  truth  and  reason,  it 
is  in  your  equity  to  judge. 

4.  Sir,  Parliament  having  an  enlarged  view  of  objects,  made, 
during  this  interval,  more  frequent  changes  in  their  sentiments 
and  their  conduct  than  could  be  justified  in  a  particular  per- 

30  son  upon  the  contracted  scale  of  private  information.  But 
though  I  do  not  hazard  anything  approaching  to  a  censure  on 
the  motives  of  former  Parliaments  to  all  those  alterations,  one 
fact  is  undoubted  —  that  under  them  the  state  of  America  has 
been  kept  in  continual  agitation.  Everything  administered  as 


BURKE  I3 

remedy  to  the  public  complaint,  if  it  did  not  produce,  was  at 
least  followed  by,  an  heightening  of  the  distemper;  until, 
by  a  variety  of  experiments,  that  important  country  has  been 
brought  into  her  present  situation  —  a  situation  which  I  will 
not  miscall,  which  I  dare  not  name,  which  I  scarcely  know  5 
how  to  comprehend  in  the  terms  of  any  description. 

5.  To  restore  order  and  repose  to  an  empire  so  great  and 
so  distracted  as  ours,  is,  merely  in  the  attempt,  an  undertaking 
that  would  ennoble  the  flights  of  the  highest  genius,  and  obtain 
pardon  for  the  efforts  of  the  meanest  understanding.  Struggling  10 
a  good  while  with  these  thoughts,  by  degrees  I  felt  myself 
more  firm.  I  derived,  at  length,  some  confidence  from  what 
in  other  circumstances  usually  produces  timidity.  I  grew  less 
anxious,  even  from  the  idea  of  my  own  insignificance.  For, 
judging  of  what  you  are  by  what  you  ought  to  be,  I  persuaded  15 
myself  that  you  would  not  reject  a  reasonable  proposition 
because  it  had  nothing  but  its  reason  to  recommend  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  being  totally  destitute  of  all  shadow  of  influ 
ence,  natural  or  adventitious,  I  was  very  sure  that,  if  my  prop 
osition  were  futile  or  dangerous  —  if  it  were  weakly  conceived,  20 
or  improperly  timed  —  there  was  nothing  exterior  to  it  of 
power  to  awe,  dazzle,  or  delude  you.  You  will  see  it  just  as  it 
is ;  and  you  will  treat  it  just  as  it  deserves. 

6.  The  proposition  is  peace.    Not  peace  through  the  medium 
of  war  ;  not  peace  to  be  hunted  through  the  labyrinth  of  intri-  25 
cate  and  endless  negotiations ;  not  peace  to  arise  out  of  uni 
versal  discord  fomented,  from   principle,  in  all  parts  of  the 
Empire ;  not  peace  to  depend  on  the  juridical  determination 
of  perplexing  questions,  or  the  precise  marking  the  shadowy 
boundaries  of  a  complex  government.    It  is   simple  peace ;  30 
sought  in  its  natural  course,  and  in  its  ordinary  haunts.    It  is 
peace  sought  in  the  spirit  of  peace,  and  laid  in  principles 
purely  pacific.     I  propose,  by  removing   the  ground  of  the 


14     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES    ' 

difference,  and  by  restoring  the  former  unsuspecting  confidence 
of  the  colonies  in  the  Mother  Country,  to  give  permanent 
satisfaction  to  your  people ;  and  (far  from  a  scheme  of  ruling 
by  discord)  to  reconcile  them  to  each  other  in  the  same  act 
5  and  by  the  bond  of  the  very  same  interest  which  reconciles 
them  to  British  government. 

7.  My  idea  is  nothing  more.    Refined  policy  ever  has  been 
the  parent  of  confusion ;  and  ever  will  be  so,  as  long  as  the 
world  endures.    Plain  good  intention,  which  is  as  easily  discov- 

10  ered  at  the  first  view  as  fraud  is  surely  detected  at  last,  is,  let 
me  say,  of  no  mean  force  in  the  government  of  mankind. 
Genuine  simplicity  of  heart  is  an  healing  and  cementing  prin 
ciple.  My  plan,  therefore,  being  formed  upon  the  most  simple 
grounds  imaginable,  may  disappoint  some  people  when  they 

15  hear  it.  It  has  nothing  to  recommend  it  to  the  pruriency 
of  curious  ears.  There  is  nothing  at  all  new  and  captivating 
in  it.  It  has  nothing  of  the  splendor  of  the  project  which  has 
been  lately  laid  upon  your  table  by  the  noble  lord  in  the  blue 
ribbon.  It  does  not  propose  to  fill  your  lobby  with  squabbling 

20  colony  agents,  who  will  require  the  interposition  of  your  mace, 
at  every  instant,  to  keep  the  peace  amongst  them.  It  does 
not  institute  a  magnificent  auction  of  finance,  where  captivated 
provinces  come  to  general  ransom  by  bidding  against  each 
other,  until  you  knock  down  the  hammer,  and  determine  a 

25  proportion  of  payments  beyond  all  the  powers  of  algebra  to 
equalize  and  settle. 

8.  The  plan  which  I  shall  presume  to  suggest  derives,  how 
ever,  one  great  advantage  from  the  proposition  and  registry  of 
that  noble  lord's  project.    The  idea  of  conciliation  is  admis- 

30  sible.  First,  the  House,  in  accepting  the  resolution  moved  by 
the  noble  lord,  has  admitted  —  notwithstanding  the  menacing 
front  of  our  address,  notwithstanding  our  heavy  bills  of  pains 
and  penalties  —  that  we  do  not  think  ourselves  precluded  from 
all  ideas  of  free  grace  and  bounty. 


BURKE  !5 

9.  The  House  has  gone  farther;  it  has  declared  conciliation 
admissible,  previous  to  any  submission  on  the  part  of  America. 
It  has  even  shot  a  good  deal  beyond  that  mark,  and  has 
admitted  that  the  complaints  of  our  former  mode  of  exerting 
the  right  of  taxation  were  not  wholly  unfounded.    That  right    5 
thus  exerted  is  allowed  to  have  something  reprehensible  in  it, 
something  unwise,  or  something  grievous ;  since,  in  the  midst 

of  our  heat  and  resentment,  we,  of  ourselves,  have  proposed  a 
capital  alteration ;  and  in  order  to  get  rid  of  what  seemed  so 
very  exceptionable,  have  instituted  a  mode  that  is  altogether  10 
new;  one  that  is,  indeed,  wholly  alien  from  all  the  ancient 
methods  and  forms  of  Parliament. 

10.  The  principle  of  this  proceeding  is  large  enough  for  my 
purpose.    The  means  proposed  by  the  noble  lord  for  carrying 
his  ideas  into  execution,  I  think,  indeed,  are  very  indifferently  15 
suited  to  the  end ;    and    this  I  shall  endeavor  to  show  you 
before  I  sit  down.    But,  for  the  present,  I  take  my  ground  on 
the  admitted  principle.    I  mean  to  give  peace.    Peace  implies 
reconciliation ;  and  where  there  has  been  a  material  dispute, 
reconciliation  does  in  a  manner  always  imply  concession  on  the  20 
one  part  or  on  the  other.    In  this  state  of  things  I  make  no 
difficulty  in  affirming  that  the  proposal  ought  to  originate  from 
us.    Great  and  acknowledged  force  is  not  impaired,  either  in 
effect  or  in  opinion,  by  an  unwillingness  to  exert  itself.    The 
superior  power  may  offer  peace  with  honor  and  with  safety.  25 
Such  an  offer  from  such  a  power  will  be  attributed  to  magna 
nimity.    But  the  concessions  of  the  weak  are  the  concessions 

of  fear.    When  such  a  one  is  disarmed,   he  is  wholly  at  the 
mercy  of  his   superior ;  and  he  loses  forever  that  time  and 
those  chances,  which,  as  they  happen   to  all  men,   are  the  30 
strength  and  resources  of  all  inferior  power. 

11.  The  capital  leading  questions  on  which  you  must  this 
day  decide  are  these  two :  First,  whether  you  ought  to  con 
cede  ;  and  secondly,  what  your  concession  ought  to  be.    On 


16     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

the  first  of  these  questions  we  have  gained,  as  I  have  just 
taken  the  liberty  of  observing  to  you,  some  ground.  But  I  am 
sensible  that  a  good  deal  more  is  still  to  be  done.  Indeed, 
Sir,  to  enable  us  to  determine  both  on  the  one  and  the  other 
5  of  these  great  questions  with  a  firm  and  precise  judgment,  I 
think  it  may  be  necessary  to  consider  distinctly  the  true  nature 
and  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  object  which  we  have 
before  us ;  because  after  all  our  struggle,  whether  we  will  or 
not,  we  must  govern  America  according  to  that  nature  and  to 

10  those  circumstances,  and  not  according  to  our  own  imagina 
tions,  nor  according  to  abstract  ideas  of  right — by  no  means 
according  to  mere  general  theories  of  government,  the  resort 
to  which  appears  to  me,  in  our  present  situation,  no  better 
than  arrant  trifling.  I  shall  therefore  endeavor,  with  your 

15  leave,  to  lay  before  you  some  of  the  most  material  of  these 
circumstances  in  as  full  and  as  clear  a  manner  as  I  am  able  to 
state  them. 

12.  The  first  thing  that  we  have  to  consider  with  regard  to 
the  nature  of  the  object  is  —  the  number  of  people  in  the 

20  colonies.  I  have  taken  for  some  years  a  good  deal  of  pains  on 
that  point.  I  can  by  no  calculation  justify  myself  in  placing 
the  number  below  two  millions  of  inhabitants  of  our  own 
European  blood  and  color,  besides  at  least  five  hundred  thou 
sand  others,  who  form  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  strength 

25  and  opulence  of  the  whole.  This,  Sir,  is,  I  believe,  about  the 
true  number.  There  is  no  occasion  to  exaggerate  where  plain 
truth  is  of  so  much  weight  and  importance.  But  whether  I  put 
the  present  numbers  too  high  or  too  low  is  a  matter  of  little 
moment.  Such  is  the  strength  with  which  population  shoots 

30  in  that  part  of  the  world,  that,  state  the  numbers  as  high  as 
we  will,  whilst  the  dispute  continues,  the  exaggeration  ends. 
Whilst  we  are  discussing'  any  given  magnitude,  they  are  grown 
to  it.  Whilst  we  spend  our  time  in  deliberating  on  the  mode 
of  governing  two  millions,  we  shall  find  we  have  millions  more 


BURKE  !j 

to  manage.  Your  children  do  not.  grow  faster  from  infancy 
to  manhood  than  they  spread  from  families  to  communities, 
and  from  villages  to  nations. 

13.  I  put  this  consideration  of  the  present  and  the  growing 
numbers  in  the  front  of  our  deliberation,  because,  Sir,   this  5 
consideration  will  make  it  evident  to  a  blunter  discernment 
than  yours,  that  no  partial,  narrow,  contracted,  pinched,  occa 
sional  system  will  be  at  all  suitable  to  such  an  object.    It  will 
show  you  that  it  is  not  to  be  considered  as  one  of  those  min 
ima  which  are  out  of  the  eye  and  consideration  of  the  law;  10 
not  a  paltry  excrescence  of  the  state ;  not  a  mean  dependent, 
who  may  be  neglected  with  little  damage  and  provoked  with 
little  danger.    It  will  prove  that  some  degree  of  care  and  cau 
tion  is  required  in  the  handling  such  an  object ;   it  will  show 
that  you  ought  not,  in  reason,  to  trifle  with  so  large  a  mass  of  15 
the  interests  and  feelings  of  the  human  race.    You  could  at  no 
time  do  so  without  guilt ;  and  be  assured  you  will  not  be  able 

to  do  it  long  with  impunity. 

14.  But  the  population  of  this  country,  the  great  and  grow 
ing  population,  though  a  very  important  consideration,  will  20 
lose  much  of  its  weight  if  not  combined  with  other  circum 
stances.    The  commerce  of  your  colonies  is  out  of  all  propor 
tion  beyond  the  numbers  of  the  people.    This  ground  of  their 
commerce  indeed  has   been  trod  some  days  ago,   and  with 
great   ability,   by  a  distinguished    person   at  your  bar.    This  25 
gentleman,  after  thirty-five  years  —  it  is  so  long  since  he  first 
appeared  at  the  same  place  to  plead  for  the  commerce  of 
Great  Britain  —  has  come  again  before  you  to  plead  the  same 
cause,  without  any  other  effect  of  time,  than  that  to  the  fire 

of   imagination    and    extent    of    erudition   which    even    then  30 
marked  him  as  one  of  the  first  literary  characters  of  his  age, 
he  has  added  a  consummate  knowledge  in  the  commercial 
interest  of  his  country,  formed  by  a  long  course  of  enlightened 
and  discriminating  experience. 


18     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN    COLONIES 

15.  Sir,  I  should  be  inexcusable  in  coming  after  such  a 
person  with  any  detail,  if  a  great  part  of  the  members  who 
now  fill  the  House  had  not  the  misfortune  to  be  absent  when 
he  appeared  at  your  bar.    Besides,  Sir,  I  propose  to  take  the 

5  matter  at  periods  of  time  somewhat  different  from  his.  There 
is,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  point  of  view  from  whence,  if  you  will 
look  at  the  subject,  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  not  make  an 
impression  upon  you. 

1 6.  I  have  in  my  hand  two  accounts;    one  a  comparative 
10  state  of  the  export  trade  of  England  to  its  colonies,  as  it  stood 

in  the  year  1704,  and  as  it  stood  in  the  year  1772  ;  the  other 
a  state  of  the  export  trade  of  this  country  to  its  colonies 
alone,  as  it  stood  in  1772,  compared  with  the  whole  trade  of 
England  to  all  parts  of  the  world  (the  colonies  included)  in 

15  the  year  1704.  They  are  from  good  vouchers;  the  latter 
period  from  the  accounts  on  your  table,  the  earlier  from  an 
original  manuscript  of  Davenant,  who  first  established  the 
Inspector-General's  office,  which  has  been  ever  since  his  time 
so  abundant  a  source  of  Parliamentary  information. 

20       17.  The  export  trade  to  the  colonies  consists  of  three  great 

branches :  the  African  —  which,  terminating  almost  wholly  in 

the  colonies,  must  be  put  to  the  account  of  their  commerce, 

—  the  West  Indian,  and  the  North  American.    All  these  are 

so  interwoven  that  the  attempt  to  separate  them  would  tear 

25  to  pieces  the  contexture  of  the  whole;  and,  if  not  entirely 
destroy,  would  very  much  depreciate  the  value  qf  all  the  parts. 
I  therefore  consider  these  three  denominations  to  be,  what  in 
effect  they  are,  one  trade. 

1 8.  The  trade  to  the  colonies,  taken  on  the  export  side,  at 

30  the  beginning  of  this  century,  that  is,  in  the  year  1 704,  stood 
thus: 

Exports  to  North  America  and  the  West  Indies  .     .     ^483,265 

To  Africa 86,665 

,£569,930 


BURKE  19 

19.  In  the  year  1772,  which  I  take  as  a  middle  year  be 
tween  the  highest  and  lowest  of  those  lately  laid  on  your  table, 
the  account  was  as  follows  : 

To  North  America  and  the  West  Indies  ....    ,£4,791,734 

To  Africa 866,398  %  5 

To  which,  if  you  add  the  export  trade  from 

Scotland,  which  had  in  1 704  no  existence  .     .     .          364,000 

,£6,022,132 

20.  From  five  hundred  and  odd  thousand,  it  has  grown  to 
six  millions.    It  has  increased  no  less  than  twelve-fold.    This  10 
is  the  state  of  the  colony  trade  as  compared  with  itself  at  these 
two   periods  within    this  century ;  —  and   this  is  matter  for 
meditation.    But  this  is  not  all.    Examine  my  second  account. 
See  how  the  export  trade  to  the  colonies  alone  in  1772  stood 

in  the  other  point  of  view;  that  is,  as  compared  to  the  whole  15 
trade  of  England  in  1704  : 

The  whole  export  trade  of  England,  including 

that  to  the  colonies,  in  1704 ^6,509,000 

Export  to  the  colonies  alone,  in  1772 6,024,000 

Difference  ^£485,000  20 

21.  The  trade  with  America  alone  is  now  within  less  than 
^500,000  of  being  equal  to  what  this  great  commercial  nation, 
England,  carried  on  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  with  the 
whole  world  !    If  I  had  taken  the  largest  year  of  those  on  your 
table,  it  would  rather  have  exceeded.    But,  it  will  be  said,  is  25 
not  this  American  trade  an  unnatural  protuberance,  that  has 
drawn  the  juices  from  the  rest  of  the  body?    The  reverse.    It 

is  the  very  food  that  has  nourished  every  other  part  into  its 
present  magnitude.  Our  general  trade  has  been  greatly  aug 
mented,  and  augmented  more  or  less  in  almost  every  part  to  30 
which  it  ever  extended ;  but  with  this  material  difference, 
that  of  the  six  millions  which  in  the  beginning  of  the  century 
constituted  the  whole  mass  of  our  export  commerce,  the 


20     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

colony  trade  was  but  one-twelfth  part ;  it  is  now  (as  a  part  of 
sixteen  millions)  considerably  more  than  a  third  of  the  whole. 
This  is  the  relative  proportion  of  the  importance  of  the  col 
onies  at  these  two  periods ;  and  all  reasoning  concerning  our 
5  mode  of  treating  them  must  have  this  proportion  as  its  basis ; 
or  it  is  a  reasoning  weak,  rotten,  and  sophistical. 

22.  Mr.  Speaker,  I  cannot  prevail  on  myself  to  hurry  over 
this  great  consideration.  //  is  good  for  us  to  be  here.  We 
stand  where  we  have  an  immense  view  of  what  is,  and  what  is 

10  past.  Clouds,  indeed,  and  darkness,  rest  upon  the  future. 
Let  us,  however,  before  we  descend  from  this  noble  eminence, 
reflect  that  this  growth  of  our  national  prosperity  has  hap 
pened  within  the  short  period  of  the  life  of  man.  It  has  hap 
pened  within  sixty-eight  years.  There  are  those  alive  whose 

15  memory  might  touch  the  two  extremities.  For  instance,  my 
Lord  Bathurst  might  remember  all  the  stages  of  the  progress. 
He  was  in  1704  of  an  age  at  least  to  be  made  to  comprehend 
such  things.  He  was  then  old  enough  acta  parentum  jam 
legere,  et  qua  sit  potuit  cognoscere  virtus.  Suppose,  Sir,  that 

20  the  angel  of  this  auspicious  youth,  foreseeing  the  many  virtues 
which  made  him  one  of  the  most  amiable,  as  he  is  one  of  the 
most  fortunate,  men  of  his  age,  had  opened  to  him  in  vision 
that  when  in  the  fourth  generation  the  third  Prince  of  the 
House  of  Brunswick  had  sat  twelve  years  on  the  throne  of 

25  that  nation  which,  by  the  happy  issue  of  moderate  and  healing 
counsels,  was  to  be  made  Great  Britain,  he  should  see  his  son, 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  turn  back  the  current  of  heredi 
tary  dignity  to  its  fountain,  and  raise  him  to  a  higher  rank  of 
peerage,  whilst  he  enriched  the  family  with  a  new  one  —  if, 

30  amidst  these  bright  and  happy  scenes  of  domestic  honor  and 
prosperity,  that  angel  should  have  drawn  up  the  "curtain,  and 
unfolded  the  rising  glories  of  his  country,  and,  whilst  he  was 
gazing  with  admiration  on  the  then  commercial  grandeur  of 
England,  the  genius  should  point  out  to  him  a  little  speck, 


BURKE  21 

scarcely  visible  in  the  mass  of  the  national  interest,  a  small 
seminal  principle,  rather  than  a  formed  body,  and  should  tell 
him  :  "  Young  man,  there  is  America  —  which  at  this  day 
serves  for  little  more  than  to  amuse  you  with  stories  of  savage 
men,  and  uncouth  manners;  yet  shall,  before  you  taste  of  5 
death,  show  itself  equal  to  the  whole  of  that  commerce  which 
now  attracts  the  envy  of  the  world.  Whatever  England  has 
been  growing  to  by  a  progressive  increase  of  improvement, 
brought  in  by  varieties  of  people,  by  succession  of  civilizing 
conquests  and  civilizing  settlements  in  a  series  of  seventeen  10 
hundred  years,  you  shall  see  as  much  added  to  her  by  America 
in  the  course  of  a  single  life  !  "  If  this  state  of  his  country 
had  been  foretold  to  him,  would  it  not  require  all  the  sanguine 
credulity  of  youth,  and  all  the  fervid  glow  of  enthusiasm,  to 
make  him  believe  it?  Fortunate  man,  he  has  lived  to  see  it !  15 
Fortunate,  indeed,  if  he  lives  to  see  nothing  that  shall  vary 
the  prospect,  and  cloud  the  setting  of  his  day  ! 

23.  Excuse  me,  Sir,  if  turning  from  such  thoughts  I  resume 
this  comparative  view  once   more.    You  have   seen   it  on  a 
large  scale ;  look  at  it  on  a  small  one.    I  will  point  out  to  20 
your  attention  a  particular  instance  of  it  in  the  single  province 

of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  year  1704  that  province  called  for 
;£n,459  in  value  of  your  commodities,  native  and  foreign. 
This  was  the  whole.  What  did  it  demand  in  1772?  Why, 
nearly  fifty  times  as  much;  for  in  that  year  the  export  to  25 
Pennsylvania  was  ,£507,909,  nearly  equal  to  the  export  to  all 
the  colonies  together  in  the  first  period. 

24.  I  choose,  Sir,  to  enter  into  these  minute  and  particular  de 
tails,  because  generalities,  which  in  all  other  cases  are  apt  to 
heighten  and  raise  the  subject,  have  here  a  tendency  to  sink  it.  30 
When  we  speak  of  the  commerce  with  our  colonies,  fiction  lags  after 
truth,  invention  is  unfruitful,  and  imagination  cold  and  barren. 

25.  So  far,  Sir,  as  to  the  importance  of  the  object,  in  view 
of  its  commerce,  as  concerned  in  the  exports  from  England. 


22     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN  COLONIES 

If  I  were  to  detail  the  imports,  I  could  show  how  many  en 
joyments  they  procure  which  deceive  the  burthen  of  life; 
how  many  materials  which  invigorate  the  springs  of  national 
industry,  and  extend  and  animate  every  part  of  our  foreign 
5  and  domestic  commerce.  This  would  be  a  curious  subject  in 
deed  ;  but  I  must  prescribe  bounds  to  myself  in  a  matter  so 
vast  and  various. 

26.  I  pass,  therefore,  to  the  colonies  in  another  point  of 
view,  —  their  agriculture.    This  they  have  prosecuted  with  such 

10  a  spirit,  that,  besides  feeding  plentifully  their  own  growing 
multitude,  their  annual  export  of  grain,  comprehending  rice, 
has  some  years  ago  exceeded  a  million  in  value.  Of  their  last 
harvest  I  am  persuaded  they  will  export  much  more.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  century  some  of  these  colonies  imported 

15  corn  from  the  Mother  Country.  For  some  time  past  the  Old 
World  has  been  fed  from  the  New.  The  scarcity  which  you 
have  felt  would  have  been  a  desolating  famine,  if  this  child  of 
your  old  age,  with  a  true  filial  piety,  with  a  Roman  charity, 
had  not  put  the  full  breast  of  its  youthful  exuberance  to  the 

20  mouth  of  its  exhausted  parent. 

27.  As  to  the  wealth  which  the  colonies  have  drawn  from 
the  sea  by  their  fisheries,  you  had  all  that  matter  fully  opened 
at  your  bar.    You  surely  thought  those  acquisitions  of  value, 
for  they  seemed  even  to  excite  your  envy;  and  yet  the  spirit 

25  by  which  that  enterprising  employment  has  been  exercised 
ought  rather,  in  my  opinion,  to  have  raised  your  esteem  and 
admiration.  And  pray,  Sir,  what  in  the  world  is  equal  to  it? 
Pass  by  the  other  parts,  and  look  at  the  manner  in  which  the 
people  of  New  England  have  of  late  carried  on  the  whale 

30  fishery.  Whilst  we  follow  them  among  the  tumbling  mountains 
of  ice,  and  behold  them  penetrating  into  the  deepest  frozen 
recesses  of  Pludson's  Bay  and  Davis's  Straits,  whilst  we  are 
looking  for  them  beneath  the  arctic  circle,  we  hear  that  they 
have  pierced  into  the  opposite  region  of  polar  cold,  that  they 


BURKE  23 

are  at  the  antipodes,  and  engaged  under  the  frozen  Serpent 
of  the  south.  Falkland  Island,  which  seemed  too  remote  and 
romantic  an  object  for  the  grasp  of  national  ambition,  is  but  a 
stage  and  resting-place  in  the  progress  of  their  victorious  in 
dustry.  Nor  is  the  equinoctial  heat  more  discouraging  to  them  5 
than  the  accumulated  winter  of  both  the  poles.  We  know 
that  whilst  some  of  them  draw  the  line  and  strike  the  harpoon 
on  the  coast  of  Africa,  others  run  the  longitude  and  pursue 
their  gigantic  game  along  the  coast  of  Brazil.  No  sea  but 
what  is  vexed  by  their  fisheries ;  no  climate  that  is  not  wit-  10 
ness  to  their  toils.  Neither  the  perseverance  of  Holland,  nor 
the  activity  of  France,  nor  the  dexterous  and  firm  sagacity 
of  English  enterprise  ever  carried  this  most  perilous  mode 
of  hardy  industry  to  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  pushed  by 
this  recent  people;  a  people  who  are  still,  as  it  were,  but  in  15 
the  gristle,  and  not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of  manhood. 
When  I  contemplate  these  things;  when  I  know  that  the 
colonies  in  general  owe  little  or  nothing  to  any  care  of  ours, 
and  that  they  are  not  squeezed  into  this  happy  form  by  the 
constraints  of  watchful  and  suspicious  government,  but  that,  20 
through  a  wise  and  salutary  neglect,  a  generous  nature  has 
been  suffered  to  take  her  own  way  to  perfection ;  when  I  re 
flect  upon  these  effects,  when  I  see  how  profitable  they  have 
been  to  us,  I  feel  all  the  pride  of  power  sink,  and  all  presump 
tion  in  the  wisdom  of  human  contrivances  melt  and  die  away  25 
within  me.  My  rigor  relents.  I  pardon  something  to  the 
spirit  of  liberty. 

[Burke  here  refutes  the  plan  of  employing  force  in  the  govern 
ment  of  the  colonies,  because,  he  says,  the  use  of  force  alone  is 
temporary,  uncertain,  experimental,  and  because  "  You  impair  the 
object  by  your  very  endeavors  to  preserve  it."] 

28.  There  is  a  third  consideration  concerning  this  object 
which  serves  to  determine  my  opinion  on  the  sort  of  policy 
which  ought  to  be  pursued  in  the  management  of  America,  30 


24     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

even  more  than  its  population  and  its  commerce  —  I  mean  its 
temper  and  character. 

29.  In  this  character  of  the  Americans,  a  love  of  freedom 
is  the  predominating  feature  which  marks  and  distinguishes 
5  the  whole ;  and  as  an  ardent  is  always  a  jealous  affection,  your 
colonies  become  suspicious,  restive,  and  untractable  whenever 
they  see  the  least  attempt  to  wrest  from  them  by  force,  or 
shuffle  from  them  by  chicane,  what  they  think  the  only  advan 
tage  worth  living  for.  This  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  is  stronger 

10  in  the  English  colonies  probably  than  in  any  other  people  of 
the  earth,  and  this  from  -a  great  variety  of  powerful  causes ; 
which,  to  understand  the  true  temper  of  their  minds  and  the 
direction  which  this  spirit  takes,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  lay 
open  somewhat  more  largely. 

15  30.  First,  the  people  of  the  colonies  are  descendants  of 
Englishmen.  England,  Sir,  is  a  nation  which  still,  I  hope, 
respects,  and  formerly  adored,  her  freedom.  The  colonists 
emigrated  from  you  when  this  part  of  your  character  was  most 
predominant;  and  they  took  this  bias  and  direction  the  mo- 

20  ment  they  parted  from  your  hands.  They  are  therefore  not 
only  devoted  to  liberty,  but  to  liberty  according  to  English 
ideas,  and  on  English  principles.  Abstract  liberty,  like  other 
mere  abstractions,  is  not  to  be  found.  Liberty  inheres  in 
some  sensible  object;  and  every  nation  has  formed  to  itself 

25  some  favorite  point,  which  by  way  of  eminence  becomes  the 
criterion  of  their  happiness.  It  happened,  you  know,  Sir,  that 
the  great  contests  for  freedom  in  this  country  were  from  the 
earliest  times  chiefly  upon  the  question  of  taxing.  Most  of 
the  contests  in  the  ancient  commonwealths  turned  primarily 

30  on  the  right  of  election  of  magistrates  ;  or  on  the  balance 
among  the  several  orders  of  the  state.  The  question  of  money 
was  not  with  them  so  immediate.  But  in  England  it  was 
otherwise.  On  this  point  of  taxes  the  ablest  pens,  and  most 
eloquent  tongues,  have  been  exercised;  the  greatest  spirits 


BURKE  25 

have  acted  and  suffered.    In  order  to  give  the  fullest  satisfac 
tion  concerning  the  importance  of  this  point,  it  was  not  only 
necessary  for  those  who  in  argument  defended  the  excellence 
of  the  English  Constitution  to  insist  on  this  privilege  of  grant 
ing  money  as  a  dry  point  of  fact,  and  to  prove  that  the  right    5 
had   been   acknowledged    in  ancient   parchments    and    blind 
usages  to  reside  in  a  certain  body  called  a  House  of  Commons. 
They  went  much  farther ;  they  attempted  to  prove,  and  they 
succeeded,  that  in  theory  it  ought  to  be  so,  from  the  particu 
lar  nature  of  a  House  of  Commons  as  an  immediate  represent-  10 
ative  of  the  people,  whether  the  old  records  had  delivered 
this  oracle  or  not.    They  took  infinite  pains  to  inculcate,  as  a 
fundamental  principle,  that  in  all  monarchies  the  people  must 
in  effect  themselves,  mediately  or  immediately,  possess  the 
power  of  granting  their  own  money,  or  no  shadow  of  liberty  15 
can  subsist.    The  colonies  draw  from  you,  as  with  their  life- 
blood,  these  ideas  and  principles.    Their  love  of  liberty,  as 
with  you,  fixed  and  attached  on  this  specific  point  of  taxing. 
Liberty  might  be  safe,  or  might  be  endangered,  in  twenty 
other  particulars,  without  their  being  much  pleased  or  alarmed.  20 
Here  they  felt  its  pulse ;    and  as  they  found  that  beat,  they 
thought  themselves  sick  or  sound.    I  do  not  say  whether  they 
were  right  or  wrong  in  applying  your  general  arguments  to 
their  own  case.    It  is  not  easy,  indeed,  to  make  a  monopoly 
of  theorems  and  corollaries.    The  fact  is,  that  they  did  thus  25 
apply  those  general  arguments ;  and  jour  mode  of  governing 
them,  whether  through  lenity  or  indolence,  through  wisdom 
or  mistake,  confirmed  them  in  the  imagination  that  they,  as 
well  as  you,  had  an  interest  in  these  common  principles. 

31.  .They  were  further  confirmed  in  this  pleasing  error  by  30 
the  form  of  their  provincial  legislative  assemblies.    Their  gov 
ernments  are  popular  in  an  high  degree ;  some  are  merely  pop 
ular;  in  all,  the  popular  representative  is  the  most  weighty; 
and  this  share  of  the  people  in  their  ordinary  government 


26     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN  COLONIES 

never  fails  to  inspire  them  with  lofty  sentiments,  and  with  a 
strong  aversion  from  whatever  tends  to  deprive  them  of  their 
chief  importance. 

32.  Permit  me,  Sir,  to  add  another  circumstance  in  our 

5  colonies  which  contributes  no  mean  part  towards  the  growth 
and  effect  of  this  untractable  spirit.  I  mean  their  education. 
In  no  country  perhaps  in  the  world  is  the  law  so  general  a 
study.  The  profession  itself  is  numerous  and  powerful;  and 
in  most  provinces  it  takes  the  lead.  The  greater  number  of 

10  the  deputies  sent  to  the  Congress  were  lawyers.  But  all  who 
read,  and  most  do  read,  endeavor  to  obtain  some  smattering 
in  that  science.  I  have  been  told  by  an  eminent  bookseller, 
that  in  no  branch  of  his  business,  after  tracts  of  popular  devo 
tion,  were  so  many  books  as  those  on  the  law  exported  to  the 

15  Plantations.  The  colonists  have  now  fallen  into  the  way  of 
printing  them  for  their  own  use.  I  hear  that  they  have  sold 
nearly  as  many  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  in  America  as 
in  England.  General  Gage  marks  out  this  disposition  very 
particularly  in  a  letter  on  your  table.  He  states  that  all  the 

20  people  in  his  government  are  lawyers,  or  smatterers  in  law; 
and  that  in  Boston  they  have  been  enabled,  by  successful  chi 
cane,  wholly  to  evade  many  parts  of  one  of  your  capital  penal 
constitutions.  The  smartness  of  debate  will  say  that  this  knowl 
edge  ought  to  teach  them  more  clearly  the  rights  of  legislature, 

25  their  obligations  to  obedience,  and  the  penalties  of  rebellion. 
All  this  is  mighty  well.  But  my  honorable  and  learned  friend 
on  the  floor,  who  condescends  to  mark  what  I  say  for  animad 
version,  will  disdain  that  ground.  He  has  heard,  as  well  as  I, 
that  when  great  honors  and  great  emoluments  do  not  win  over 

30  this  knowledge  to  the  service  of  the  state,  it  is  a  formidable 
adversary  to  government.  If  the  spirit  be  not  tamed  and 
broken  by  these  happy  methods,  it  is  stubborn  and  litigious. 
Abeunt  studia  in  mores.  This  study  renders  men  acute,  in 
quisitive,  dexterous,  prompt  in  attack,  ready  in  defence,  full 


BURKE  27 

of  resources.  In  other  countries,  the  people,  more  simple, 
and  of  a  less  mercurial  cast,  judge  of  an  ill  principle  in 
government  only  by  an  actual  grievance;  here  they  antici 
pate  the  evil,  and  judge  of  the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by 
the  badness  of  the  principle.  They  augur  misgovernment  5 
at  a  distance,  and  snuff  the  approach  of  tyranny  in  every 
tainted  breeze. 

33.  The  last  cause  of  this  disobedient  spirit  in  the  colonies 
is  hardly  less  powerful  than  the  rest,  as  it  is  not  merely  moral, 
but  laid  deep  in  the  natural  constitution  of  things.    Three  10 
thousand  miles  of  ocean  lie  between  you  and  them.    No  con 
trivance  can  prevent  the  effect  of  this  distance  in  weakening 
government.    Seas  roll,  and  months  pass,  between  the  order 
and  the  execution ;  and  the  want  of  a  speedy  explanation  of  a 
single  point  is  enough  to  defeat  a  whole  system.    You  have,  15 
indeed,  winged  ministers  of  vengeance,  who  carry  your  bolts 
in  their  pounces  to  the  remotest  verge  of  the  sea.    But  there 
a  power  steps  in  that  limits  the  arrogance  of  raging  passions 
and  furious  elements,  and  says,  So  far  shalt  thou  go,  and  no 
farther.    Who  are  you,  that  you  should  fret  and  rage,  and  bite  20 
the  chains  of  nature?    Nothing  worse  happens  to  you  than 
does    to   all   nations    who    have    extensive    empire;*    and    it 
happens  in  all  the  forms  into  which  empire  can  be  thrown. 
In  large  bodies  the  circulation  of  power  must  be  less  vigorous 
at  the  extremities.    Nature  has  said  it.    The  Turk  cannot  gov-  25 
ern  Egypt  and  Arabia  and  Kurdistan  as  he  governs  Thrace ; 
nor  has  he  the  same  dominion  in  Crimea  and  Algiers  which  f 
he  has  at  Brusa  and  Smyrna.    Despotism  itself  is  obliged  to 
truck  and  huckster.     The  Sultan  gets  such  obedience  as  he 
can.    He  governs  with  a  loose  rein,  that  he  may  govern  at  all ;  30 
and  the  whole  of  the  force  and  vigor  of  his  authority  in  his 
centre  is  derived  from  a  prudent  relaxation  in  all  his  borders. 
Spain,  in  her  provinces,  is,  perhaps,  not  so  well  obeyed  as  you 
are  in  yours.    She  complies,  too;  she  submits;  she  watches 


28     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

times.  This  is  the  immutable  condition,  the  eternal  law  of 
extensive  and  detached  empire. 

34.  Then,   Sir,   from   these   six    sources  —  of   descent,    of 
form  of  government,  of  religion  in  the  Northern  Provinces, 

5  of  manners  in  the  Southern,  of  education,  of  the  remoteness 
of  situation  from  the  first  mover  of  government  —  from  all 
these  causes  a  fierce  spirit  of  liberty  has  grown  up.  It  has 
grown  with  the  growth  of  the  people  in  your  colonies,  and 
increased  with  the  increase  of  their  wealth ;  a  spirit  that  un- 
10  happily  meeting  with  an  exercise  of  power  in  England  which, 
however  lawful,  is  not  reconcilable  to  any  ideas  of  liberty, 
much  less  with  theirs,  has  kindled  this  flame  that  is  ready 
to  consume  us. 

35.  I  do  not  mean  to  commend  either  the  spirit  in  this 
15  excess,  or  the  moral  causes  which  produce  it.    Perhaps  a  more 

smooth  and  accommodating  spirit  of  freedom  in  them  would 
be  more  acceptable  to  us.  Perhaps  ideas  of  liberty  might  be 
desired  more  reconcilable  with  an  Arbitrary  and  boundless 
authority.  Perhaps  we  might  wish  the  colonists  to  be  per- 

20  suaded  that  their  liberty  is  more  secure  when  held  in  trust  for 
them  by  us,  as  their  guardians  during  a  perpetual  minority, 
than  with*  any  part  of  it  in  thek  own  hands.  The  question  is, 
not  whether  their  spirit  deserves  praise  or  blame,  but  —  what, 
in  the  name  of  God,  shall  we  do  with  it?  You  have  before 

25  you  the  object,  such  as  it  is,  with  all  its  glories,  with  all  its 
imperfections  on  its  head.  You  see  the  magnitude,  the  impor 
tance,  the  temper,  the  habits,  the  disorders.  By  all  these 
considerations  we  are  strongly  urged  to  determine  something 
concerning  it.  We  are  called  upon  to  fix  some  rule  and  line 

30  for  our  future  conduct  which  may  give  a  little  stability  to  our 
politics,  and  prevent  the  return  of  such  unhappy  deliberations 
as  the  present.  Every  such  return  will  bring  the  matter  before 
us  in  a  still  more  untrac table  form.  For,  what  astonishing  and 
incredible  things  have  we  not  seen  already  !  What  monsters 


BURKE  29 

have  not  been  generated  from  this  unnatural  contention ! 
Whilst  eve'ry  principle  of  authority  and  resistance  has  been 
pushed,  upon  both  sides,  as  far  as  it  would  go,  there  is  noth 
ing  so  solid  and  certain,  either  in  reasoning  or  in  practice, 
that  has  not  been  sriaken.  Until  very  lately  all  authority  in  5 
America  seemed  to  be  nothing  but  an  emanation  from  yours. 
Even  the  popular  part  of  the  colony  constitution  derived  all 
its  activity  and  its  first  vital  movement  from  the  pleasure  of 
the  Crown.  We  thought,  Sir,,  that  the  utmost  which  the  dis 
contented  colonists  could  do  was  to  disturb  authority ;  we  10 
never  dreamt  they  could  of  themselves  supply  it  —  knowing 
in  general  what  an  operose  business  it  is  to  establish  a  govern 
ment  absolutely  new.  But  having,  for  our  purposes  in  this 
contention,  resolved  that  none  but  an  obedient  Assembly 
should  sit,  the  humors  of  the  people  there,  finding  all  passage  15 
through  the  legal  channel  stopped,  with  great  violence  broke 
out  another  way.  Some  provinces  have  tried  their  experi 
ment,  as  we  have  tried  ours;  and  theirs  has  succeeded.  They 
have  formed  a  government  sufficient  for  its  purposes,  without 
the  bustle  of  a  revolution  'or  the  troublesome  formality  of  an  20 
election.  Evident  necessity  and  tacit  consent  have  done  the 
business  in  an  instant.  So  well  they  have  done  it,  that  Lord 
Dunmore  —  the  account  is  among  the  fragments  on  your  table 
—  tells  you  that  the  new  institution  is  infinitely  better  obeyed 
than  the  ancient  government  ever  was  in  its  most  fortunate  25 
periods.  Obedience  is  what  makes  government,  and  not  the 
names  by  which  it  is  called ; .  not  the  name  of  Governor,  as 
formerly,  or  Committee,  as  at  present.  This  new  government 
has  originated  directly  from  the  people,  and  was  not  trans 
mitted  through  any  of  the  ordinary  artificial  media  of  a  positive  30 
constitution.  It  was  not  a  manufacture  ready  formed,  and 
transmitted  to  them  in  that  condition  from  England.  The 
evil  arising  from  hence  is  this ;  that  the  colonists  having  once 
found  the  possibility  of  enjoying  the  advantages  of  order  in 


30     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

the  midst  of  a  struggle  for  liberty,  such  struggles  will  not 
henceforward  seem  so  terrible  to  the  settled  and  sober  part  of 
mankind  as  they  had  appeared  before  the  trial. 

36.  Pursuing  the  same  plan  of  punishing  by  the  denial  of  the 
5  exercise  of  government  to  still  greater  lengths,  we  wholly  ab 
rogated  the  ancient  government  of  Massachusetts.  We  were 
confident  that  the  first  feeling,  if  not  the  very  prospect,  of  an 
archy  would  instantly  enforce  a  complete  submission.  The 
experiment  was  tried.  A  new,  strange,  unexpected  face  of 

10  things  appeared.  Anarchy  is  found  tolerable.  A  vast  province 
has  now  subsisted,  and  subsisted  in  a  considerable  degree  of 
health  and  vigor  for  near  a  twelvemonth,  without  Governor, 
without  public  Council,  without  judges,  without  executive 
magistrates.  How  long  it  will  continue  in  this  state,  or  what 

15  may  arise  out  of  this  unheard-of  situation,  how  can  the  wisest 
of  us  conjecture?  Our  late  experience  has  taught  us  that 
many  of  those  fundamental  principles,  formerly  believed  in 
fallible,  are  either  not  of  the  importance  they  were  imagined 
to  be,  or  that  we  have  not  at  all  adverted  to  some  other  far 

20  more  important  and  far  more  powerful  principles,  which  en 
tirely  overrule  those  we  had  considered  as  omnipotent.  I  am 
much  against  any  further  experiments  which  tend  to  put  to  the 
proof  any  more  of  these  allowed  opinions  which  contribute  so 
much  to  the  public  tranquillity.  In  effect,  we  suffer  as  much 

25  at  home  by  this  loosening  of  all  ties,  and  this  concussion  of  all 
established  opinions,  as  we  do  abroad ;  for  in  order  to  prove 
that  the  Americans  have  no  right  to  their  liberties,  we  are 
every  day  endeavoring  to  subvert  the  maxims  which  preserve 
the  whole  spirit  of  our  own.  To  prove  that  the  Americans 

30  ought  not  to  be  free,  we  are  obliged  to  depreciate  the  value 
of  freedom  itself ;  and  we  never  seem  to  gain  a  paltry  advan 
tage  over  them  in  debate  without  attacking  some  of  those 
principles,  or  deriding  some  of  those  feelings,  for  which  our 
ancestors  have  shed  their  blood. 


BURKE  31 

37.  But,  Sir,  in  wishing  to  put  an  end  to  pernicious  experi 
ments,  I  do  not  mean  to  preclude  the  fullest  inquiry.    Far 
from  it.  Far  from  deciding  on  a  sudden  or  partial  view,  I  would 
patiently  go  round  and  round  the  subject,  and  survey  it  minutely 

in  every  possible  aspect.    Sir,  if  I  were  capable  of  engaging  you    5 
to  an  equal  attention,  I  would  state  that,  as  far  as  I  am  capa 
ble  of  discerning,  there  are  but  three  ways  of  proceeding  rela 
tive  to  this  stubborn  spirit  which  prevails  in  your  colonies, 
and  disturbs  your  government.    These  are  —  to  change  that 
spirit,  as  inconvenient,  by  removing  the  causes ;  to  prosecute  10 
it  as  criminal;  or  to  comply  with  it  as  necessary.    I  would 
not  be  guilty  of  an  imperfect  enumeration;    I  can  think  of 
but  these  three.    Another  has   indeed   been   started,  —  that 
of  giving  up  the  colonies;  but  it  met  so  slight  a  reception  that 
I  do  not  think  myself  obliged  to  dwell  a  great  while  upon  it.  15 
It  is  nothing  but  a  little  sally  of  anger,  like  the  frowardness  of 
peevish  children,  who,  when  they  cannot  get  all  they  would 
have,  are  resolved  to  take  nothing. 

38.  The  first  of  these  plans  —  to  change  the  spirit,  as  in 
convenient,  by  removing  the  causes  —  I  think  is  the  most  like  20 
a  systematic  proceeding.    It  is  radical  in  its  principle ;  but  it 

is  attended  with  great  difficulties,  some  of  them  little  short,  as 
I  conceive,  of  impossibilities.  This  will  appear  by  examining 
into  the  plans  which  have  been  proposed. 

39.  As  the  growing  population  in  the  colonies  is  evidently  25 
one  cause  of  their  resistance,  it  was  last  session  mentioned  in 
both  Houses,  by  men  of  weight,  and  received  not  without 
applause,  that  in  order  to  check  this  evil  it  would  be  proper 
for  the  Crown  to  make  no  further  grants  of  land.    But  to  this 
scheme  there  are  two  objections.    The  first,  that  there  is  al-  30 
ready  so  much  unsettled  land  in  private  hands  as  to  afford 
room  for  an  immense  future  population,  although  the  Crown 
not  only  withheld  its  grants,  but  annihilated  its  soil.    If  this  be 
the  case,  then  the  only  effect  of  this  avarice  of  desolation,  this 


32     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

hoarding  of  a  royal  wilderness,  would  be  to  raise  the  value  of 
the  possessions  in  the  hands  of  the  great  private  monopolists, 
without  any  adequate  check  to  the  growing  and  alarming 
mischief  of  population. 

5  40.  But  if  you  stopped  your  grants,  what  would  be  the  con 
sequence?  The  people  would  occupy  without  grants.  They 
have  already  so  occupied  in  many  places.  You  cannot  station 
garrisons  in  every  part  of  these  deserts.  If  you  drive  the 
people  from  one  place,  they  will  carry  on  their  annual  tillage, 

10  and  remove  with  their  flocks  and  herds  to  another.  Many  of 
the  people  in  the  back  settlements  are  already  little  attached 
to  particular  situations.  Already  they  have  topped  the  Appa 
lachian  mountains.  From  thence  they  behold  before  them  an 
immense  plain,  one  vast,  rich,  Jevel  meadow ;  a  square  of  five 

15  hundred  miles.    Over  this  they  would  wander  without  a  possi 
bility  of  restraint ;  they  would  change  their  manners  with  the 
habits  of  their  life  ;  would  soon  forget  a  government  by  which 
-  they  were  disowned ;  would  become  hordes  of  English  Tar 
tars;    and,  pouring  down  upon  your  unfortified   frontiers  a 

20  fierce  and  irresistible  cavalry,  become  masters  of  your  govern 
ors  and  your  counsellors,  your  collectors  and  comptrollers, 
and  of  all  the  slaves  that  adhered  to  them.  Such  would,  and 
in  no  long  time  must  be,  the  effect  of  attempting  to  forbid  as 
a  crime  and  to  suppress  as  an  evil  the  command  and  blessing 

25  of  Providence,  Increase  and  multiply.  Such  would  be  the 
happy  result  of  the  endeavor  to  keep  as  a  lair  of  wild  beasts 
that  earth  which  God,  by  an  express  charter,  has  given  to  the 
children  of  men.  Far  different,  and  surely  much  wiser,  has 
been  our  policy  hitherto.  Hitherto  we  have  invited  our  people, 

30  by  every  kind  of  bounty,  to  fixed  establishments.  We  have 
invited  the  husbandman  to  look  to  authority  for  his  title.  We 
have  taught  him  piously  to  believe  in  the  mysterious  virtue  of 
wax  and  parchment.  We  have  thrown  each  tract  of  land,  as 
it  was  peopled,  into  districts,  that  the  ruling  power  should 


BURKE  33 

never  be  wholly  out  of  sight.  We  have  settled  all  we  could ; 
and  we  have  carefully  attended  every  settlement  with  govern 
ment. 

41.  Adhering,  Sir,  as  I  do,  to  this  policy,  as  well  as  for  the 
reasons  I  have  just  given,  I  think  this  new  project  of  hedging-    5 
in  population  to  be  neither  prudent  nor  practicable. 

42.  To  impoverish  the  colonies  in  general,  and  in  particu 
lar  to  arrest  the  noble  course  of  their  marine  enterprises,  would 
be  a  more  easy  task.    I  freely  confess  it.    We  have  shown  a 
disposition  to  a  system  of  this  kind,  a  disposition  even  to  con-  10 
tinue  the  restraint  after  the  offence,  looking  on  ourselves  as 
rivals  to  our  colonies,  and  persuaded  that  of  course  we  must 
gain  all  that  they  shall  lose.    Much  mischief  we  may  certainly 
do.    The  power  inadequate  to  all  other  things  is  often  more 
than  sufficient  for  this.    I  do  not  look  on  the  direct  and  im-  15 
mediate  power  of  the  colonies  to  resist  our  violence  as  very 
formidable.    In  this,  however,  I  may  be  mistaken.    But  when 

I  consider  that  we  have  colonies  for  no  purpose  but  to  be  serv 
iceable  to  us,  it  seems  to  my  poor  understanding  a  little  pre 
posterous  to  make  them  unserviceable  in  order  to  keep  them  20 
obedient.  It  is,  in  truth,  nothing  more  than  the  old  and,  as  I 
thought,  exploded  problem  of  tyranny,  which  proposes  to  beg 
gar  its  subjects  into  submission.  But  remember,  when  you 
have  completed  your  system  of  impoverishment,  that  nature 
still  proceeds  in  her  ordinary  course ;  that  discontent  will  in-  25 
crease  with  misery;  and  that  there  are  critical  moments  in 
the  fortune  of  all  states  when  they  who  are  too  weak  to  con 
tribute  to  your  prosperity  may  be  strong  enough  to  complete 
your  ruin.  Spoliatis  arma  supersunt. 

43.  The  temper  and  character  which  prevail  in  our  colonies  30 
are,  I  am  afraid,  unalterable  by  any  human  art.    We  cannot,  I 
fear,  falsify  the  pedigree  of  this  fierce  people,  and  persuade 
them  that  they  are  not  sprung  from  a  nation  in  whose  veins 
the  blood  of  freedom  circulates.    The  language  in  which  they 


34     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

would  hear  you  tell  them  this  tale  would  detect  the  imposition ; 
your  speech  would  betray  you.  An  Englishman  is  the  unfittest 
person  on  earth  to  argue  another  Englishman  into  slavery. 

44.  I  think  it  is  nearly  as  little  in  our  power  to  change  their 
5  republican  religion  as  their  free  descent ;  or  to  substitute  the 
Roman  Catholic  as  a  penalty,  or  the  Church  of  England  as 
an  improvement.  The  mode  of  inquisition  and  dragooning  is 
going  out  of  fashion  in  the  Old  World,  and  I  should  not  con 
fide  much  to  their  efficacy  in  the  New.  The  education  of  the 

10  Americans  is  also  on  the  same  unalterable  bottom  with  their 
religion.  You  cannot  persuade  them  to  burn  their  books  of 
curious  science;  to  banish  their  lawyers  from  their  courts  of 
laws ;  or  to  quench  the  lights  of  their  assemblies  by  refusing  to 
choose  those  persons  who  are  best  read  in  their  privileges.  It 

15  would  be  no  less  impracticable  to  think  of  wholly  annihilating 
the  popular  assemblies  in  which  these  lawyers  sit.  The  army, 
by  which  we  must  govern  in  their  place,  would  be  far  more 
chargeable  to  us,  not  quite  so  effectual,  and  perhaps  in  the 
end  full  as  difficult  to  be  kept  in  obedience. 

20      45.  But  let  us  suppose  all  these  moral  difficulties  got  over. 
The  ocean  remains.    You  cannot  pump  this  dry ;  and  as  long 
as  it  continues  in  its  present  bed,  so  long  all  the  causes  which  • 
weaken  authority  by  distance  will  continue. 

Ye  Gods,  annihilate  but  space  and  time, 
2  5  And  make  two  lovers  happy  ! 

was  a  pious  and  passionate  prayer ;   but  just  as  reasonable  as 
many  of  the  serious  wishes  of  grave  and  solemn  politicians. 

46.  If  then,  Sir,  it  seems  almost  desperate  to  think  of  any 
alterative  course  for  changing  the  moral  causes,  and  not  quite 
30  easy  to  remove  the  natural,  which  produce  prejudices  irrecon 
cilable  to  the  late  exercise  of  our  authority  —  but  that  the  spirit 
infallibly  will  continue,   and,   continuing,   will  produce  such 


BURKE 


35 


effects  as  now  embarrass  us  —  the  second  mode  under  consid 
eration  is  to  prosecute  that  spirit  in  its  overt  acts  as  criminal. 

47.  At  this  proposition  I  must  pause  a  moment.    The  thing 
seems  a  great  deal  too  big  for  my  ideas  of  jurisprudence.    It 
should  seem  to  my  way  of  conceiving  such  matters  that  there    5 
is  a  very  wide  difference,  in  reason  and  policy,  between  the 
mode  of  proceeding  on  the  irregular  conduct  of  scattered  in 
dividuals,  or  even  of  bands  of  men  who  disturb  order  within 
the  state,  and  the  civil  dissensions  which  may,  from  time  to 
time,   on    great    questions,   agitate    the    several    communities  10 
which  compose  a  great  empire.    It  looks  to  me  to  be  narrow 
and  pedantic  to  apply  the  ordinary  ideas  of  criminal  justice 

to  this  great  public  contest.  I  do  not  know  the  method  of 
drawing  up  an  indictment  against  a  whole  people.  I  cannot 
insult  and  ridicule  the  feelings  of  millions  of  my  fellow-crea-  15 
tures  as  Sir  Edward  Coke  insulted  one  excellent  individual 
(Sir  Walter  Raleigh)  at  the  bar.  I  hope  I  am  not  ripe  to  pass 
sentence  on  the  gravest  public  bodies,  intrusted  with  magis 
tracies  of  great  authority  and  dignity,  and  charged  with  the 
safety  of  their  fellow-citizens,  upon  the  very  same  title  that  I  20 
am.  I  really  think  that,  for  wise  men,  this  is  not  judicious ; 
for  sober  men,  not  decent ;  for  minds  tinctured  with  humanity, 
not  mild  and  merciful. 

48.  Perhaps,  Sir,  I  am  mistaken  in  my  idea  of  an  empire, 

as  distinguished  from  a  single  state  or  kingdom.    But  my  idea  25 
of  it  is  this  :  that  an  empire  is  the  aggregate  of  many  states 
under  one  common  head,  whether  this  head  be  a  monarch  or 
a  presiding  republic.    It  does,  in  such  constitutions,  frequently 
happen  —  and  nothing  but  the  dismal,  cold,  dead  uniformity 
of  servitude  can  prevent  its  happening  —  that  the  subordinate  30 
parts  have  many  local  privileges  and   immunities.    Between 
these  privileges  and  the  supreme  common  authority  the  line 
may  be  extremely  nice.    Of  course  disputes,  often,  too,  very 
bitter  disputes,  and  much  ill   blood,  will  arise.    But  though 


36     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

every  privilege  is  an  exemption,  in  the  case,  from  the  ordinary 
.  exercise  of  the  supreme  authority,  it  is  no  denial  of  it.    The 
claim  of  a  privilege  seems  rather,  ex  vi  termini,  to  imply  a 
superior  power ;  for  to  talk  of  the  privileges  of  a  state  or  of  a 
5  person  who  has  no  superior  is  hardly  any  better  than  speaking 
nonsense.    Now,  in  such  unfortunate  quarrels  among  the  com 
ponent  parts  of  a  great  political  union  of  communities,  I  can 
scarcely  conceive  anything  more  completely  imprudent  than 
for  the  head  of  the  empire  to  insist  that,  if  any  privilege  is 
10  pleaded   against  his  will  or  his  acts,  his  whole  authority  is 
denied ;  instantly  to  proclaim  rebellion,  to  beat  to  arms,  and 
to  put  the  offending  provinces  under  the  ban.    Will  not  this, 
Sir,  very  soon  teach  the  provinces  to  make  no  distinctions  on 
their  part?    Will   it    not    teach    them   that  the  government, 
15  against  which  a  claim  of  liberty  is  tantamount  to  high  treason, 
is  a  government  to  which  submission  is  equivalent  to  slavery? 
It  may  not  always  be  quite  convenient  to  impress  dependent 
communities  with  such  an  idea. 

49.  We  are,  indeed,  in  all  disputes  with  the  colonies,  by 
20  the  necessity  of  things,  the  judge.  It  is  true,  Sir.  But  I  con 
fess  that  the  character  of  judge  in  my  own  cause  is  a  thing 
that  frightens  me.  Instead  of  filling  me  with  pride,  I  am  ex 
ceedingly  humbled  by  it.  I  cannot  proceed  with  a  stern, 
assured,  judicial  confidence,  until  I  find  myself  in  something 
25  more  like  a  judicial  character.  I  must  have  these  hesitations 
as  long  as  I  am  compelled  to  recollect  that,  in  my  little  read 
ing  upon  such  contests  as  these,  the  sense  of  mankind  has  at 
least  as  often  decided  against  the  superior  as  the  subordinate 
power.  Sir,  let- me  add,  too,  that  the  opinion  of  my  having 
'30  some  abstract  right  in  my  favor  would  not  put  me  much  at  my 
ease  in  passing  sentence,  unless  I  could  be  sure  that  there 
were  no  rights  which,  in  their  exercise  under  certain  circum 
stances,  were  not  the  most  odious  of  all  wrongs  and  the  most 
vexatious  of  all  injustice.  Sir,  these  considerations  have  great 


BURKE  37 

weight  with  me  when  I  find  things  so  circumsta  ced,  that  I 
see  the  same  party  at  once  a  civil  litigant  against  me  in  point 
of  right  and  a  culprit  before  me,  while  I  sit  as  a  criminal  judge 
on  acts  of  his  whose  moral  quality  is  to  be  decided  upon  the 
merits  of  that  very  litigation.  Men  are  every  now  and  then  put,  5 
by  the  complexity  of  human  affairs,  into  strange  situations  ;  but 
justice  is  the  same,  let  the  judge  be  in  what  situation  he  will. 

50.  In   this  situation,  let  us   seriously  and  coolly  ponder. 
What  is  it  we  have  got  by  all  our  menaces,  which  have  been 
many  and  ferocious?    What  advantage  have  we  derived  from  10 
the  penal  laws  we  have  passed,  and  which,  for  the  time,  have 
been  severe  and  numerous?    What  advances  have  we  made 
towards  our  object  by  the  sending  of  a  force  which,  by  land 
and  sea,  is  no  contemptible  strength  ?  Has  the  disorder  abated  ? 
Nothing  less.    When  I  see  things  in  this  situation  after  such  15 
confident  hopes,  bold  promises,  and  active  exertions,  I  can 
not,  for  my  life,  avoid  a  suspicion  that  the  plan  itself  is  not 
correctly  right. 

51.  If,   then,  the   removal   of  the  causes  of  this  spirit  of 
American  liberty  be  for  the  greater  part,  or  rather  entirely,  20 
impracticable ;  if  the  ideas  of  criminal  process  be  inapplicable 

or,  if  applicable,  are  in  the  highest  degree  inexpedient; 

what  way  yet  remains?    No  way  is  open  but  the  third  and 
last,  —  to  comply  with  the  American  spirit  as  necessary ;  or, 

if  you  please,  to  submit  to  it  as  a  necessary  evil.  25 

52.  If  we  adopt  this  mode,  —  if  we  mean  to  conciliate  and 
concede,  —  let  us  see  of  what  nature  the  concession  ought  to 
be.    To  ascertain  the  nature  of  our  concession,  we  must  look 
at  their  complaint.    The  colonies  complain  that  they  have  not 
the   characteristic  mark  and  seal  of  British  freedom.    They  30 
complain  that  they  are  taxed  in  a  Parliament  in  which  they 
are  not  represented.    If  you  mean  to  satisfy  them  at  all,  you 
must  satisfy  them  with  regard  to  this  complaint.    If  you  mean 

to  please  any  people  you  must  give  them  the  boon  which  they 


38     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

ask ;  not  what  you  may  think  better  for  them,  but  of  a  kind 
totally  different.  Such  an  act  may  be  a  wise  regulation,  but 
it  is  no  concession ;  whereas  our  present  theme  is  the  mode 
of  giving  satisfaction. 

5  53.  Sir,  I  think  you  must  perceive  that  I  am  resolved  this 
day  to  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  question  of  the  right 
of  taxation.  Some  gentlemen  startle  —  but  it  is  true  ;  I  put  it 
totally  out  of  the  question.  It  is  less  than  nothing  in  my  con 
sideration.  I  do  not  indeed  wonder,  nor  will  you,  Sir,  that 

10  gentlemen  of  profound  learning  are  fond  of  displaying  it  on 
this  profound  subject.-  But  my  consideration  is  narrow,  con 
fined,  and  wholly  limited  to  the  policy  of  the  question.  I  do 
not  examine  whether  the  giving  away  a  man's  money  be  a 
power  excepted  and  reserved  out  of  the  general  trust  of  gov- 

15  ernment,  and  how  far  all  mankind,  in  all  forms  of  polity,  are 
entitled  to  an  exercise  of  that  right  by  the  charter  of  nature ; 
or  whether,  on  the  contrary,  a  right  of  taxation  is  necessarily 
involved  in  the  general  principle  of  legislation,  and  insepa 
rable  from  the  ordinary  supreme  power.  These  are  deep  ques- 

20  tions,  where  great  names  militate  against  each  other,  where 
reason  is  perplexed,  and  an  appeal  to  authorities  only  thickens 
the  confusion ;  for  high  and  reverend  authorities  lift  up  their 
heads  on  both  sides,  and  there  is  no  sure  footing  in  the  middle. 
This  point  is  the  great 

25  Serbonian  bog, 

Betwixt  Damiata  and  Mount  Casius  old, 
Where  armies  whole  have  sunk. 

I  do  not  intend  to  be  overwhelmed  in  that  bog,  though  in 
such  respectable  company.  The  question  with  me  is,  not 
30  whether  you  have  a  right  to  render  your  people  miserable, 
but  whether  it  is  not  your  interest  to  make  them  happy.  It  is 
not  what  a  lawyer  tells  me  I  may  do,  but  what  humanity,  rea 
son,  and  justice  tell  me  I  ought  to  do.  Is  a  politic  act  the 


BURKE  39 

worse  for  being  a  generous  one  ?  Is  no  concession  proper  but 
that  which  is  made  from  your  want  of  right  to  keep  what 
you  grant?  Or  does  it  lessen  the  grace  or  dignity  of  relaxing 
in  the  exercise  of  an  odious  claim  because  you  have  your  evi 
dence-room  full  of  titles,  and  your  magazines  stuffed  with  arms  5 
to  enforce  them?  What  signify  all  those  titles,  and  all  those 
arms?  Of  what  avail  are  they,  when  the  reason  of  the  thing 
tells  me  that  the  assertion  of  my  title  is  the  loss  of  my  suit, 
and  that  I  could  do  nothing  but  wound  myself  by  the  use  'of 
my  own  weapons?  10 

54.  Such  is  steadfastly  my  opinion  of  the  absolute  necessity 
of  keeping  up  the  concord  of  this  Empire  by  an  unity  of  spirit, 
though  in  a  diversity  of  operations,  that,  if  I  were  sure  the 
colonists  had,  at  their  leaving  this  country,  sealed  a  regular 
compact  of  servitude;   that  they  had  solemnly  abjured  all  the  15 
rights  of  citizens ;  that  they  had  made  a  vow  to  renounce  all 
ideas  of  liberty  for  them  and  their  posterity  to  all  generations ; 
yet  I  should  hold  myself  obliged  to  conform  to  the  temper  I 
found  universally  prevalent  in  my  own  day,  and  to  govern  two 
million  of  men,  impatient  of  servitude,  on  the  principles  of  20 
freedom.    I  am  not  determining  a  point  of  law,  I  am  restoring 
tranquillity ;    and   the   general   character   and   situation   of   a 
people  must  determine  what  sort  of  government  is  fitted  for 
them.    That  point  nothing  else  can  or  ought  to  determine. 

55.  My  idea,   therefore,   without   considering  whether  we  25 
yield  as  matter  of  right,  or  grant  as  matter  of  favor,  is  to  admit 
the  people  of  our  cojonies  into  an  interest  in  the  Constitution ; 
and,  by  recording  that  admission  in  the  journals  of  Parliament, 

to  give  them  as  strong  an  assurance  as  the  nature  of  the  thing 
will  admit,  that  we  mean  forever  to  adhere  to  that  solemn  30 
declaration  of  systematic  indulgence. 

[Burke  here  argues  that  four  constitutional  precedents —  Ire 
land,  Wales,  Chester,  and  Durham  —  justify  his  plan  of  dealing 
with  America.] 


40     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

56.  My  Resolutions  therefore  mean  to  establish  the  equity 
and  justice  of  a  taxation  of  America  by  grant,  and  not  by  im 
position  ;  to  mark  the  legal  competency  of  the  Colony  Assem 
blies  for  the  support  of  their  government  in  peace,  and  for 

5  public  aids  in  time  of  war ;  to  acknowledge  that  this  legal 
competency  has  had  a  dutiful  and  beneficial  exercise;  and  that 
experience  has  shown  the  benefit  of  their  grants,  and  the  futil 
ity  of  Parliamentary  taxation  as  a  method  of  supply. 

57.  These  solid  truths  compose  six  fundamental  proposi- 
10  tions.    There  are  three  more  Resolutions  corollary  to  these. 

If  you  admit  the  first  set,  you  can  hardly  reject  the  others. 
But  if  you  admit  the  first,  I  shall  be  far  from  solicitous  whether 
you  accept  or  refuse  the  last.  I  think  these  six  massive  pillars 
will  be  of  strength  sufficient  to  support  the  temple  of  British 

15  concord.  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  I  entertain  of  my  exist 
ence  that,  if  you  admitted  these,  you  would  command  an  im 
mediate  peace,  and,  with  but  tolerable  future  management, 
a  lasting  obedience  in  America.  I  am  not  arrogant  in  this 
confident  assurance.  The  propositions  are  all  mere  matters  of 

20  fact,  and  if  they  are  such  facts  as  draw  irresistible  conclusions 
even  in  the  stating,  this  is  the  power  of  truth,  and  not  any 
management  of  mine. 

[At  this  point  Burke  took  up  seriatim  the  Resolutions  referred 
to,  and  considered  each  at  some  length.] 

^  58.  Here,  Sir,  I  should  close;  but  I  plainly  perceive  some 
objections  remain  which  I  ought,  if  possible,  to  remove.  The 

25  first  will  be  that,  in  resorting  to  the  doctrine  of  our  ancestors, 
as  contained  in  the  preamble  to  the  Chester  Act,  I  prove  too 
much ;  that  the  grievance  from  a  want  of  representation,  stated 
in  that  preamble,  goes  to  the  whole  of  legislation  as  well  as  to 
taxation ;  and  that  the  colonies,  grounding  themselves  upon 

30  that  doctrine,  will  apply  it  to  all  parts  of  legislative  authority. 
59.  To  this  objection,  with  all  possible  deference  and  hu 
mility,  and  wishing  as  little  as  any  man  living  to  impair  the 


BURKE  4I 

smallest  particle  of  our  supreme  authority,  I  answer,  that  the 
words  are  the  words  of  Parliament,  and  not  mine,  and  that  all 
false  and  inconclusive  inferences  drawn  from  them  are  not 
mine,  for  I  heartily  disclaim  any  such  inference.  I  have  chosen 
the  words  of  an  Act  of  Parliament  which  Mr.  Grenville,  surely  5 
a  tolerably  zealous  and  very  judicious  advocate  for  the  sover 
eignty  of  Parliament,  formerly  moved  to  have  read  at  your 
table  in  confirmation  of  his  tenets.  It  is  true  that  Lord  Chat 
ham  considered  these  preambles  as  declaring  strongly  in  favor 
of  his  opinions.  He  was  a  no  less  powerful  advocate  for  the  10 
privileges  of  the  Americans.  Ought  I  not  from  hence  to  pre 
sume  that  these  preambles  are  as  favorable  as  possible  to  both, 
when  properly  understood;  favorable  both  to  the  rights  of 
Parliament,  and  to  the  privilege  of  the  dependencies  of  this 
Crown?  But,  Sir,  the  object  of  grievance  in  my  Resolution  I  15 
have  not  taken  from  the  Chester,  but  from  the  Durham  Act, 
which  confines  the  hardship  of  want  of  representation  to  the 
case  of  subsidies,  and  which  therefore  falls  in  exactly  with  the 
case  of  the  colonies.  But  whether  the  unrepresented  counties 
were  de  jure  or  de  facto  bound,  the  preambles  do  not  accu-  20 
rately  distinguish,  nor  indeed  was  it  necessary ;  for,  whether  de 
jure  or  de  facto,  the  Legislature  thought  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  taxing  as  of  right,  or  as  of  fact  without  right,  equally 
a  grievance,  and  equally  oppressive. 

60.  I  do  not  know  that  the  colonies  have,  in  any  general  25 
way,  or  in  any  cool  hour,  gone  much  beyond  the  demand  of 
humanity  in  relation  to  taxes.    It  is  not  fair  to  judge  of  the 
temper  or  dispositions  of  any  man,  or  any  set  of  men,  when 
they  are  composed  and  at  rest,  from  their  conduct  or  their 
expressions  in  a  state  of  disturbance  and  irritation.    It  is  be-  30 
sides  a  very  great  mistake  to  imagine  that  mankind  follow  up 
practically  any  speculative  principle,  either  of  government  or 
of  freedom,  as  far  as  it  will  go  in  argument  and  logical  illation. 
We  Englishmen  stop  very  short  of  the  principles  upon  which 


42     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

we  support  any  given  part  of  our  Constitution,  or  even  the 
whole  of  it  together.    I  could  easily,  if  I  had  not  already  tired 
you,  give  you  very  striking  and  convincing  instances  of  it. 
This  is  nothing  but  what  is  natural  and  proper.    All  govern- 
5  ment,  indeed  every  human  benefit  and  enjoyment,  every  vir 
tue,  and  every  prudent  act,  is  founded  on  compromise  and 
barter.    We  balance  inconveniences;  we  give  and  take;   we 
remit  some  rights,  that  we  may  enjoy  others ;  and  we  choose 
rather  to  be  happy  citizens  than  subtle  disputants.    As  we 
10  must  give  away  some  natural  liberty  to  enjoy  civil  advantages, 
so  we  must  sacrifice  some  civil  liberties  for  the  advantages  to 
be  derived  from  the  communion  and  fellowship  of  a  great 
empire.    But,  in  all  fair  dealings,  the  thing  bought  must  bear 
some  proportion  to  the  purchase  paid.    None  will  barter  away 
15  the  immediate  jewel  of  his  soul.    Though  a  great  house  is  apt 
to  make  slaves  haughty,  yet  it  is  purchasing  a  part  of  the  arti 
ficial  importance  of  a  great  empire  too  dear  to  pay  for  it  all 
essential  rights  and  all  the  intrinsic  dignity  of  human  nature. 
None  of  us  who  would  not  risk  his  life  rather  than  fall  under  a 
20  government   purely  arbitrary.    But  although  there  are  some 
amongst  us  who  think  our  Constitution  wants  many  improve 
ments  to  make  it  a  complete  system  of  liberty,  perhaps  none 
who  are  of  that  opinion  would  think  it  right  to  aim  at  such 
improvement  by  disturbing  his  country,  and  risking  everything 
25  that  is  dear  to  him.    In  every  arduous  enterprise  we  consider 
what  we  are  to  lose,  as  well  as  what  we  are  to  gain ;  and  the 
more  and  better  stake  of  liberty  every  people  possess,  the  less 
they  will  hazard  in  a  vain  attempt  to  make  it  more.    These 
are  the  cords  of  man.    Man  acts  from  adequate  motives  rela- 
30  tive   to  his  interest,   and  not  on  metaphysical  speculations. 
Aristotle,  the  great  master  of  reasoning,  cautions  us,  and  with 
great  weight  and  propriety,  against  this  species  of  delusive 
geometrical  accuracy  in  moral  arguments  as  the  most  fallacious 
of  all  sophistry. 


BURKE  43 

61.  The  Americans  will  have  no  interest  contrary  to  the 
grandeur  and  glory  of  England,  when  they  are  not  oppressed 
by  the  weight  of  it ;  and  they  will  rather  be  inclined  to  respect 
the  acts  of  a  superintending  legislature  when  they  see  them 
the  acts  of  that  power  which  is  itself  the  security,  not  the  rival,    5 
of  their  secondary  importance.    In  this  assurance  my  mind 
most  perfectly  acquiesces,  and  I  confess  I  feel  not  the  least 
alarm  from  the  discontents  which  are  to  arise  from  putting 
people  at  their  ease,  nor  do  I  apprehend  the  destruction  of 
this  Empire  from  giving,  by  an  act  of  free  grace  and  indul-  10 
gence,  to  two  millions  of  my  fellow-citizens  some  share  of 
those  rights  upon  which  I  have  always  been  taught  to  value 
myself. 

62.  It  is  said,  indeed,  that  this  power  of  granting,  vested  in 
American  Assemblies,  would  dissolve  the  unity  of  the  Empire,  15 
which  was  preserved  entire,  although  Wales,  and  Chester,  and 
Durham  were  added  to  it.    Truly,  Mr.  Speaker,  I  do  not  know 
what  this  unity  means,  nor  has  it  ever  been  heard  of,  that  I 
know,  in  the  constitutional  policy  of  this  country.    The  very 
idea  of  subordination  of  parts  excludes  this  notion  of  simple  20 
and  undivided  unity.    England  is  the  head;  but  she  is  not 
the  head  and  the  members  too.    Ireland  has  ever  had  from 
the  beginning  a  separate,  but  not  an  independent,  legislature, 
which,  far  from  distracting,  promoted  the  union  of  the  whole. 
Everything  was  sweetly  and   harmoniously  disposed  through  25 
both  islands  for  the  conservation  of  English  dominion,  and 
the  communication  of  English  liberties.    I  do  not  see  that  the 
same  principles  might  not  be  carried  into  twenty  islands  and 
with  the  same  good  effect.    This  is  my  model  with  regard  to 
America,  as  far  as  the  internal  circumstances  of  the  two  coun-  30 
tries  are  the  same.    I  know  no  other  unity  of  this  Empire  than 

I  can  draw  from  its  example  during  these  periods,  when  it 
seemed  to  my  poor  understanding  more  united  than  it  is  now, 
or  than  it  is  likely  to  be  by  the  present  methods. 


44     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

63.  But  since  I  speak  of  these  methods,  I  recollect,  Mr. 
Speaker,  almost  too  late,  that  I  promised,  before  I  finished, 
to  say  something  of  the  proposition  of  the  noble  lord  on  the 
floor,  which  has  been  so  lately  received  and  stands  on  your 

5  Journals.  I  must  be  deeply  concerned  whenever  it  is  my  mis 
fortune  to  continue  a  difference  with  the  majority  of  this 
House ;  but  as  the  reasons  for  that  difference  are  my  apology 
for  thus  troubling  you,  suffer  me  to  state  them  in  a  very  few 
words.  I  shall  compress  them  into  as  small  a  body  as  I  possi- 

10  bly  can,  having  already  debated  that  matter  at  large  when  the 
question  was  before  the  Committee. 

64.  First,  then,  I  cannot  admit  that  proposition  of  a  ran 
som  by  auction ;  because  it  is  a  mere  project.    It  is  a  thing 
new,  unheard  of;   supported  by  no  experience;  justified  by 

15  no  analogy;  without  example  of  our  ancestors,  or  root  in  the 
Constitution.  It  is  neither  regular  Parliamentary  taxation, 
nor  colony  grant.  Experimentum  in  corpore  vili  is  a  good 
rule,  which  will  ever  make  me  adverse  to  any  trial  of  experi 
ments  on  what  is  certainly  the  most  valuable  of  all  subjects, 

20  the  peace  of  this  Empire. 

65.  Secondly,  it  is  an  experiment  which  must  be  fatal  in 
the  end  to  our  Constitution.    For  what  is  it  but  a  scheme  for 
taxing  the  colonies  in  the  ante-chamber  of  the  noble  lord  and 
his  successors?    To  settle  the  quotas  and  proportions  in  this 

25  House  is  clearly  impossible.  You,  Sir,  may  natter  yourself  you 
shall  sit  a  state  auctioneer,  with  your  hammer  in  your  hand, 
and  knock  down  to  each  colony  as  it  bids.  But  to  settle,  on 
the  plan  laid  down  by  the  noble  lord,  the  true  proportional 
payment  for  four  or  five  and  twenty  governments  according  to 

30  the  absolute  and  the  relative  wealth  of  each,  and  according  to 
the  British  proportion  of  wealth  and  burthen,  is  a  wild  and 
chimerical  notion.  This  new  taxation  must  therefore  come  in 
by  the  back  door  of  the  Constitution.  Each  quota  must  be 
brought  to  this  House  ready  formed;  you  can  neither  add 


BURKE 


45 


nor  alter.  You  must  register  it.  You  can  do  nothing  further ; 
for  on  what  grounds  can  you  deliberate  either  before  or  after 
the  proposition?  You  cannot  hear  the  counsel  for  all  these 
provinces,  quarrelling  each  on  its  own  quantity  of  payment, 
and  its  proportion  to  others.  If  you  should  attempt  it,  the  5 
Committee  of  Provincial  Ways  and  Means,  or  by  whatever 
other  name  it  will  delight  to  be  called,  must  swallow  up  all 
the  time  of  Parliament. 

66.  Thirdly,  it  does  not  give  satisfaction  to  the  complaint 

of  the  colonies.    They  complain  that  they  are  taxed  without  10 
their  consent ;  you  answer,  that  you  will  fix  the  sum  at  which 
they  shall  be  taxed.    That  is,  you  give  them  the  very  grievance 
for  the  remedy.    You  tell  them,  indeed,  that  you  will  leave  the 
mode  to  themselves.    I  really  beg  pardon  —  it  gives  me  pain  to 
mention  it  —  but  you  must  be  sensible  that  you  will  not  per-  1 5 
form  this  part  of  the  compact.    For,  suppose  the  colonies  were 
to  lay  the  duties,  which  furnished  their  contingent,  upon  the 
importation  of  your  manufactures,  you  know  you  would  never 
suffer  such  a  tax  to  be  laid.    You  know,  too,  that  you  would 
not  suffer  many  other  modes  of  taxation ;   so  that,  when  you  20 
come  to  explain  yourself,  it  will  be  found  that  you  will  neither 
leave  to  themselves  the  quantum  nor  the  mode,  nor  indeed 
anything.    The  whole  is  delusion  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

67.  Fourthly,  this  method  of  ransom  by  auction,  unless  it  be 
universally  accepted,  will  plunge  you  into  great  and  inextri-  25 
cable  difficulties.    In  what  year  of  our  Lord  are  the  proportions 

of  payments  to  be  settled  ?  To  say  nothing  of  the  impossibility 
that  colony  agents  should  have  general  powers  of  taxing  the 
colonies  at  their  discretion,  consider,  I  implore  you,  that  the 
communication  by  special  messages  and  orders  between  these  30 
agents  and  their  constituents,  on  each  variation  of  the  case, 
when  the 'parties  come  to  contend  together  and  to  dispute  on 
their  relative  proportions,  will  be  a  matter  of  delay,  perplexity, 
and  confusion  that  never  can  have  an  end. 


46     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

68.  If  all  the  colonies  do  not  appear  at  the  outcry,  what  is 
the  condition  of  those  assemblies  who  offer,  by  themselves  or 
their  agents,  to  tax  themselves  up  to  your  ideas  of  their  pro 
portion?  The  refractory  colonies  who  refuse  all  composition 

5  will  remain  taxed  only  to  your  old  impositions,  which,  how 
ever  grievous  in  principle,  are  trifling  as  to  production.  The 
obedient  colonies  in  this  scheme  are  heavily  taxed  ;  the  refrac 
tory  remain  unburdened.  What  will  you  do?  Will  you  lay 
new  and  heavier  taxes  by  Parliament  on  the  disobedient? 

10  Pray  consider  in  what  way  you  can  do  it.  You  are  perfectly 
convinced  that,  in  the  way  of  taxing,  you  can  do  nothing  but 
at  the  ports.  Now  suppose  it  is  Virginia  that  refuses  to  appear 
at  your  auction,  while  Maryland  and  North  Carolina  bid  hand 
somely  for  their  ransom,  and  are  taxed  to  your  quota,  how  will 

15  you  put  these  colonies  on  a  par?  Will  you  tax  the  tobacco  of 
Virginia?  If  you  do,  you  give  its  death-wound  to  your  English 
revenue  at  home,  and  to  one  of  the  very  greatest  articles  of 
your  own  foreign  trade.  If  you  tax  the  import  of  that  rebel 
lious  colony,  what  do  you  tax  but  your  own  manufactures,  or 

20  the  goods  of  some  other  obedient  and  already  well-taxed  col 
ony?  Who  has  said  one  word  on  this  labyrinth  of  detail,  which 
bewilders  you  more  and  more  as  you  enter  into  it?  Who  has 
presented,  who  can  present  you  with  a  clue  to  lead  you  out  of 
it?  I  think,  Sir,  it  is  impossible  that  you  should  not  recollect 

25  that  the  colony  bounds  are  so  implicated  in  one  another  —  you 
know  it  by  your  other  experiments  in  the  bill  for  prohibiting 
the  New  England  fishery  —  that  you  can  lay  no  possible  re 
straints  on  almost  any  of  them  which  may  not  be  presently 
eluded,  if  you  do  not  confound  the  innocent  with  the  guilty, 

30  and  burthen  those  whom,  upon  every  principle,  you  ought  to 
exonerate.  He  must  be  grossly  ignorant  of  America  who  thinks 
that,  without  falling  into  this  confusion  of  all  rules  of  equity 
and  policy,  you  can  restrain  any  single  colony,  especially  Vir 
ginia  and  Maryland,  the  central  and  most  important  of  them  alL 


BURKE 


47 


69.  Let  it  also  be  considered  that,  either  in  the  present 
confusion  you  settle  a  permanent  contingent,  which  will  and 
must  be  trifling,  and  then  you  have  no  effectual  revenue ;   or 
you  change  the  quota  at  every  exigency,  and  then  on  every 
new  repartition  you  will  have  a  new  quarrel.  5 

70.  Reflect,  besides,  that  when  you  have  fixed  a  quota  for 
every  colony,  you  have  not  provided  for  prompt  and  punctual 
payment.    Suppose  one,  two,  five,  ten  years'  arrears.    You  can 
not  issue  a  Treasury  Extent  against  the  failing  colony.    You 
must  make  new  Boston  Port  Bills,  new  restraining  laws,  new  10 
acts  for  dragging  men  to  England  for  trial.    You  must  send 
out  new  fleets,  new  armies.    All  is  to  begin  again.    From  this 
day  forward  the  Empire  is  never  to  know  an  hour's  tranquil 
lity.    An  intestine  fire  will  be  kept  alive  in  the  bowels  of  the 
colonies,  which  one  time  or  other  must  consume  this  whole  15 
Empire.    I  allow  indeed  that  the  empire  of  Germany  raises 
her  revenue  and  her  troops  by  quotas  and  contingents ;    but 
the  revenue  of  the  empire,  and  the  army  of  the  empire,  is  the 
worst  revenue  and  the  worst  army  in  the  world. 

71.  Instead  of  a  standing  revenue,  you  will  therefore  have  20 
a  perpetual  quarrel.    Indeed,  the  noble  lord  who  proposed  this 
project  of  a  ransom  by  auction  seems  himself  to  be  of  that 
opinion.    His  project  was  rather  designed  for  breaking  the 
union  of  the  colonies  than  for   establishing  a  revenue.    He 
confessed  he  apprehended  that  his  proposal  would  not  be  to  25 
their  taste.    I  say  this  scheme  of  disunion  seems  to  be  at  the 
bottom  of  the  project;   for  I  will  not  suspect  that  the  noble 
lord  meant  nothing  but  merely  to  delude  the  nation  by  an  airy 
phantom  which  he  never  intended  to  realize.    But  whatever 
his  views  may  be,  as  I  propose  the  peace  and  union  of  the  30 
colonies  as  the  very  foundation  of  my  plan,  it  cannot  accord 
with  one  whose  foundation  is  perpetual  discord. 

72.  Compare  the  two.    This  I  offer  to  give  you  is  plain  and 
simple.    The  other  full  of  perplexed  and  intricate  mazes.    This 


48     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

is  mild ;  that  harsh.  This  is  found  by  experience  effectual  for 
its  purposes ;  the  other  is  a  new  project.  This  is  universal ; 
the  other  calculated  for  certain  colonies  only.  This  is  imme 
diate  in  its  conciliatory  operation ;  the  other  remote,  contin- 
5  gent,  full  of  hazard.  Mine  is  what  becomes  the  dignity  of  a 
ruling  people  —  gratuitous,  unconditional,  and  not  held  out  as 
a  matter  of  bargain  and  sale.  I  have  done  my  duty  in  propos 
ing  it  to  you.  I  have  indeed  tired  you  by  a  long  discourse; 
but  this  is  the  misfortune  of  those  to  whose  influence  nothing 

10  will  be  conceded,  and  who  must  win  every  inch  of  their  ground 
by  argument.  You  have  heard  me  with  goodness.  May  you 
decide  with  wisdom  !  For  my  part,  I  feel  my  mind  greatly 
disburthened  by  what  I  have  done  to-day.  I  have  been  the 
less  fearful  of  trying  your  patience,  because  on  this  subject  I 

15  mean  to  spare  it  altogether  in  future.  I  have  this  comfort, 
that  in  every  stage  of  the  American  affairs  I  have  steadily 
opposed  the  measures  that  have  produced  the  confusion,  and 
may  bring  on  the  destruction,  of  this  Empire.  I  now  go  so 
far  as  to  risk  a  proposal  of  my  own.  If  I  cannot  give  peace 

20  to  my  country,  I  give  it  to  my  conscience. 

73.  But  what,  says  the  financier,  is  peace  to  us  without 
money?  Your  plan  gives  us  no  revenue.  No!  But  it  does; 
for  it  secures  to  the  subject  the  power  of  refusal,  the  first  of 
all  revenues.  Experience  is  a  cheat,  and  fact  a  liar,  if  this 

25  power  in  the  subject  of  proportioning  his  grant,  or  of  not 
granting  at  all,  has  not  been  found  the  richest  mine  of  revenue 
ever  discovered  by  the  skill  or  by  the  fortune  of  man.  It  does 
not  indeed  vote  you  152,7507.  us.  2\d.,  nor  any  other  paltry 
limited  sum;  but  it  gives  the  strong  box  itself,  the  fund,  the 

30  bank  —  from  whence  only  revenues  can  arise  amongst  a  people 
sensible  of  freedom.  Posita  luditur  area.  Cannot  you,  in 
England  —  cannot  you,  at  this  time  of  day  —  cannot  you,  a 
House  of  Commons,  trust  to  the  principle  which  has  raised  so 
mighty  a  revenue,  and  accumulated  a  debt  of  near  140,000,000 


BURKE  49 

in  this  country?  Is  this  principle  to  be  true  in  England,  and 
false  everywhere  else?  Is  it  not  true  in  Ireland?  Has  it  not 
hitherto  been  true  in  the  colonies?  Why  should  you  presume 
that,  in  any  country,  a  body  duly  constituted  for  any  function 
will  neglect  to  perform  its  duty  and  abdicate  its  trust?  Such  5 
a  presumption  would  go  against  all  governments  in  all  modes. 
But,  in  truth,  this  dread  of  penury  of  supply  from  a  free  assem 
bly  has  no  foundation  in  nature ;  for  first,  observe  that,  besides 
the  desire  which  all  men  have  naturally  of  supporting  the 
honor  of  their  own  government,  that  sense  of  dignity  and  that  10 
security  to  property  which  ever  attends  freedom  has  a  tend 
ency  to  increase  the  stock  of  the  free  community.  Most  may 
be  taken  where  most  is  accumulated.  And  what  is  the  soil  or 
climate  where  experience  has  not  uniformly  proved  that  the 
voluntary  flow  of  heaped-up  plenty,  bursting  from  the  weight  15 
of  its  own  rich  luxuriance,  has  ever  run  with  a  more  copi 
ous  stream  of  revenue  than  could  be  squeezed  from  the  dry 
husks  of  oppressed  indigence  by  the  straining  of  all  the  politic 
machinery  in  the  world? 

74.  Next,  we  know  that  parties  must  ever  exist  in  a  free  coun-  20 
try.    We  know,  too,  that  the  emulations  of  such  parties  —  their 
contradictions,  their  reciprocal  necessities,  their  hopes  and  their 
fears  —  must  send  them  all  in  their  turns  to  him  that  holds  the 
balance  of  the  State.    The  parties  are  the  gamesters ;  but  Gov 
ernment  keeps  the  table,  and  is  sure  to  be  the  winner  in  the  end.  25 
When  this  game  is  played,  I  really  think  it  is  more  to  be  feared 
that  the  people  will  be  exhausted,  than  that  government  will  not 
be  supplied  ;  whereas,  whatever  is  got  by  acts  of  absolute  power 

ill  obeyed,  because  odious,  or  by  contracts  ill  kept,  because  con 
strained,  will  be  narrow,  feeble,  uncertain,  and  precarious.          30 

Ease  would  retract 
Vows  made  in  pain,  as  violent  and  void. 

75.  I,  for  one,  protest  against  compounding  our  demands. 
I  declare  against  compounding,  for  a  poor  limited  sum,  the 


50     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

immense,  ever-growing,  eternal  debt  which  is  due  to  generous 
government  from  protected  freedom.  And  so  may  I  speed  in 
the  great  object  I  propose  to  you,  as  I  think  it  would  not  only 
be  an  act  of  injustice,  but  would  be  the  worst  economy  in  the 
5  world,  to  compel  the  colonies  to  a  sum  certain,  either  in  the 
way  of  ransom  or  in  the  way  of  compulsory  compact. 

76.  But  to  clear  up  my  ideas  on  this  subject:  a  revenue 
from  America  transmitted  hither  —  do  not  delude  yourselves 
—  you  never  can  receive  it;  no,  not  a  shilling.    We  have  ex- 

10  perience  that  from  remote  countries  it  is  not  to  be  expected. 
If,  when  you  attempted  to  extract  revenue  from  Bengal,  you 
were  obliged  to  return  in  loan  what  you  had  taken  in  imposi 
tion,  what  can  you  expect  from  North  America  ?  For  certainly, 
if  ever  there  was  a  country  qualified  to  produce  wealth,  it  is 

15  India ;  or  an  institution  fit  for  the  transmission,  it  is  the  East 
India  Company.  America  has  none  of  these  aptitudes.  If 
America  gives  you  taxable  objects  on  which  you  lay  your 
duties  here,  and  gives  you,  at  the  same  time,  a  surplus  by  a 
foreign  sale  of  her  commodities  to  pay  the  duties  on  these 

20  objects  which  you  tax  at  home,  she  has  performed  her  part  to 
the  British  revenue.  But  with  regard  to  her  own  internal 
establishments,  she  may,  I  doubt  not  she  will,  contribute  in 
moderation.  I  say  in  moderation,  for  she  ought  not  to  be  per 
mitted  to  exhaust  herself.  She  ought  to  be  reserved  to  a  war, 

25  the  weight  of  which,  with  the  enemies  that  we  are  most  likely 
to  have,  must  be  considerable  in  her  quarter  of  the  globe. 
There  she  may  serve  you,  and  serve  you  essentially. 

77.  For  that  service — for  all  service,  whether  of  revenue, 
trade,  or  empire  —  my  trust  is  in  her  interest  in  the  British 

30  Constitution.  My  hold  of  the  colonies  is  in  the  close  affection 
which  grows  from  common  names,  from  kindred  blood,  from 
similar  privileges,  and  equal  protection.  These  are  ties  which, 
though  light  as  air,  are  as  strong  as  links  of  iron.  Let  the 
colonists  always  keep  the  idea  of  their  civil  rights  associated 

35  with  your  government,  —  they  will  cling  and  grapple  to  you, 


BURKE  51 

and  no  force  under  heaven  will  be  of  power  to  tear  them  from 
their  allegiance.    But  let  it  be  once  understood  that  your  gov 
ernment  may  be  one  thing,  and  their  privileges  another,  that 
these  two  things  may  exist  without  any  mutual  relation,  the 
cement  is  gone  —  the  cohesion  is  loosened  —  and  everything    5 
hastens  to  decay  and  dissolution.    As  long  as  you  have  the 
wisdom  to  keep  the  sovereign  authority  of  this  country  as  the 
sanctuary  of  liberty,  the   sacred   temple   consecrated   to   our 
common  faith,  wherever  the  chosen  race  and  sons  of  England 
worship  freedom,  they  will  turn  their  faces  towards  you.    The  10 
more  they  multiply,  the  more  friends  you  will  have ;   the  more 
ardently  they  love  liberty,  the  more  perfect  will  be  their  obedi 
ence.    Slavery  they  can  have  anywhere  —  it  is  a  weed   that 
grows  in  every  soil.    They  may  have  it  from  Spain ;  they  may 
have  it  from  Prussia.    But,  until  you  become  lost  to  all  feeling  1 5 
of  your  true  interest  and  your  natural  dignity,  freedom  they 
can  have  from  none  but  you.    This  is  the  commodity  of  price 
of  which  you  have  the  monopoly.    This  is   the  true  Act  of 
Navigation  which  binds  to  you  the  commerce  of  the  colonies, 
and  through  them  secures  to  you  the  wealth  of  the  world.  20 
Deny  them  this  participation  of  freedom,  and  you  break  that 
sole  bond  which  originally  made,  and  must  still  preserve,  the 
unity  of  the  Empire.    Do  not  entertain  so  weak  an  imagination 
as  that  your  registers  and  your  bonds,  your  affidavits  and  your 
sufferances,  your  cockets  and  your  clearances,  are  what  form  25 
the  great  securities  of  your  commerce.    Do  not  dream  that 
your  letters  of  office,  and  your  instructions,  and  your  suspend 
ing  clauses  are  the  things  that  hold  together  the  great  con 
texture  of  the  mysterious  whole.    These  things  do  not  make 
your  government.    Dead   instruments,   passive  tools  as  they  30 
are,  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  English  communion  that  gives  all 
their  life  and  efficacy  to  them.    It  is  the  spirit  of  the  English 
Constitution  which,  infused  through  the  mighty  mass,  pervades, 
feeds,  unites,  invigorates,  vivifies  every  part  of  the  Empire, 
even  down  to  the  minutest  member.  35 


52     CONCILIATION  WITH  AMERICAN   COLONIES 

78.  Is  it  not  the  same  virtue  which  does  everything  for  us 
here  in  England?    Do  you  imagine,  then,  that  it  is  the  Land 
Tax  Act  which  raises  your  revenue?  that  it  is  the  annual  vote 
in  the  Committee  of  Supply  which  gives  you  your  army?  or 

5  that  it  is  the  Mutiny  Bill  which  inspires  it  with  bravery  and 
discipline  ?  No  !  surely  no  !  It  is  the  love  of  the  people ;  it 
is  their  attachment  to  their  government,  from  the  sense  of  the 
deep  stake  they  have  in  such  a  glorious  institution,  which  gives 
you  your  army  and  your  navy,  and  infuses  into  both  that  liberal 
10  obedience  without  which  your  army  would  be  a  base  rabble, 
and  your  navy  nothing  but  rotten  timber. 

79.  All  this,  I  know  well  enough,  will  sound' wild  and  chi 
merical  to  the  profane  herd  of  those  vulgar  and  mechanical 
politicians  who  have  no  place  among  us ;  a  sort  of  people  who 

15  think  that  nothing  exists  but  what  is  gross  and  material,  and 
who,  therefore,  far  from  being  qualified  to  be  directors  of  the 
great  movement  of  empire,  are  not  fit  to  turn  a  wheel  in  the 
machine.  But  to  men  truly  initiated  and  rightly  taught,  these 
ruling  and  master  principles  which,  in  the  opinion  of  such  men 

20  as  I  have  mentioned,  have  no  substantial  existence,  are  in 
truth  everything,  and  all  in  all.  Magnanimity  in  politics  is 
not  seldom  the  truest  wisdom ;  and  a  great  empire  and  little 
minds  go  ill  together.  If  we  are  conscious  of  our  station,  and 
glow  with  zeal  to  fill  our  places  as  becomes  our  situation  and 

25  ourselves,  we  ought  to  auspicate  all  our  public  proceedings  on 
America  with  the  old  warning  of  the  church,  Sursum  corda! 
We  ought  to  elevate  our  minds  to  the  greatness  of  that  trust  to 
which  the  order  of  Providence  has  called  us.  By  adverting  to  the 
dignity  of  this  high  calling  our  ancestors  have  turned  a  savage 

30  wilderness  into  a  glorious  empire,  and  have  made  the  most  ex 
tensive  and  the  only  honorable  conquests  —  not  by  destroying, 
but  by  promoting  the  wealth,  the  number,  the  happiness,  of 
the  human  race.  Let  us  get  an  American  revenue  as  we  have 
got  an  American  empire.  English  privileges  have  made  it  all 

35  that  it  is ;   English  privileges  alone  will  make  it  all  it  can  be. 


THE  MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN 
JOSEPH  WHITE 

DANIEL  WEBSTER 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  JURY  DELIVERED  IN  AUGUST,  1830,  AT  THE  TRIAL 
OF  FRANK  KNAPP  FOR  THE  MURDER  OF  JOSEPH  WHITE 

INTRODUCTION 

Daniel  Webster,  lawyer,  orator,  and  statesman,  was  born  in 
Salisbury,  New  Hampshire,  January  18,  1782.  His  father,  a  sturdy 
frontiersman,  soldier,  farmer,  member  of  the  legislature,  and  county 
judge,  was  always  struggling  with  poverty  and  always  handicapped 
by  a  sense  of  the  deficiencies  of  his  early  education.  Living  on  the 
frontier,  Daniel  was  compelled  to  depend  for  his  early  education 
on  his  mother  and  the  scanty  schooling  customary  in  winter ;  and 
for  much  of  this  he  was  indebted  to  the  fact  that  he  was  the  weak 
est  of  the  family.  When  he  was  fifteen  years  old  a  family  council 
decided  to  send  him  to  college.  After  an  imperfect  preparation 
he  entered  Dartmouth  College,  and  was  graduated  in  1801.  He  at 
once  began  the  study  of  law,  supporting  himself  meanwhile,  and 
assisting  his  brother  Ezekiel  in  college,  by  copying,  teaching,  and 
other  miscellaneous  labors.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Boston 
in  1805,  from  the  office  of  Christopher  Gore,  and  began  the  prac 
tice  of  law  at  Boscawen,  a  small  town  near  his  home.  Two  years 
later  he  moved  to  Portsmouth.  There  he  soon  enjoyed  a  stimu 
lating  competition  and  helpful  friendship  with  Jeremiah  Mason,  at 
that  time  leader  of  the  New  Hampshire  bar.  Webster's  remark 
able  abilities  as  a  lawyer  and  orator  soon  brought  him  recognition. 
In  1813  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress.  During  the  next  few  years 
he  was  building  his  legal  reputation  and  becoming  known  in  cases 
before  the  Supreme  Court.  In  1816  he  moved  to  Boston,  and  for 
the  succeeding  five  years  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the  practice 

53 


54    THE   MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

of  law.  This  was  a  period  marked  by  rapid  intellectual  growth 
and  by  the  first  exhibition  of  his  talents  on  a  large  scale.  By  his 
argument  in  the  famous  Dartmouth  College  Case,  in  1818,  he  estab 
lished  a  national  reputation  as  a  constitutional  lawyer;  and  the 
Plymouth  oration,  in  1 820,  showed  him  to  be  a  master  in  the  art 
of  occasional  oratory.  In  1830  came  the  celebrated  "Reply  to 
Hayne,"  whereby  he  gained  his  well-earned  title  of  the  Expounder 
of  the  Constitution. 

Webster's  fame  as  a  statesman  rests  on  his  exposition  of  the 
idea  of  nationality.  He  was  not  a  constructive  genius,  but  did  a 
great  work  in  preparing,  the  way  for  others.  His  Hayne  reply 
put  the  government  in  an  attitude  of  preparation,  —  an  attitude 
due  to  Webster's  great  and  successful  argumentation.  His  "  Lib 
erty  and  Union"  sentiment  was  reechoed  in  his  last  notable 
speech,  delivered  March  7,  1850,  a  speech  at  once  the  most  loudly 
praised  and  the  most  strongly  censured  of  any  in  the  history  of 
American  oratory.  «  I  wish  to  speak  to-day,"  he  said  in  opening, 
"  not  as  a  Massachusetts  man,  not  as  a  Northern  man,  but  as  an 
American."  The  Union  was  with  him  the  paramount  issue.  The 
result  is  well  known.  Many  of  his  Northern  admirers  turned  from 
him  as  a  recreant  bidding  for  Southern  votes  for  the  presidency. 
The  truth  of  the  charge  is  still  a  mooted  question,  but  Webster's 
side  of  the  case  has  no  doubt  received  too  little  consideration.  He 
was  still  for  the  Union  with  a  passionate  devotion,  with  an  equal 
dislike  for  the  abolitionist  and  the  secessionist,  who  endangered 
the  Union.  But  his  highly  developed  sense  of  nationality  led  him 
to  attempt  compromise  when  compromise  was  no  longer  possible ; 
the  sectional  issue  was  already  forced  too  far  for  even  Webster  to 
help  avert  the  dreaded  result  of  "states  dissevered,  discordant, 
belligerent." 

Webster's  one  great  life  purpose  was  to  make  the  United  States 
a  nation,  —  to  read  nationality  into  the  Constitution  and  fix  it  in 
the  minds  of  the  people  ;  in  this  he  succeeded.  His  one  great 
ambition  was  the  presidency;  in  this  he  failed.  He  died  at  his 
home  in  Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  October  24,  1852,  disappointed 
at  his  loss  of  the  nomination  for  the  presidency,  for  which  he  had 
long  been  a  logical  candidate,  but  an  office  which  could  not  have 
added  to,  and  might  easily  have  detracted  from,  his  national  fame, 
—  a  fame  resting  secure  on  the  record  of  his  invaluable  services 
during  a  peculiarly  critical  period  in  our  national  development. 


WEBSTER  55 

Though  critics  have  differed  widely  regarding  Webster  from 
political  and  ethical  standpoints,  none  have  ever  questioned  his 
right  to  be  ranked  among  the  world's  greatest  orators.  Not  inaptly 
may  he  be  called  the  American  Demosthenes,  for  he  had  the  com 
bined  simplicity  and  strength  of  the  great  Greek,  and  excelled  the 
latter  in  natural  endowments. 

The  first  thing  to  be  noted  regarding  Webster's  oratory — the 
first  thing  always  noted  by  those  who  saw  him  —  is  his  phys 
ical  equipment.  It  is  necessary  for  one  to  understand  the  mere 
physical  influence  of  the  man  himself  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
immediate  influence  of  his  speeches.  In  face,  form,  and  voice, 
nature  did  her  utmost  for  the  "godlike  Daniel."  Making  all  due 
allowances  for  the  exaggerations  of  contemporary  hero  worship 
ers,  Webster's  physique,  carriage,  and  look  were  so  unusual  as 
to  command  unusual  attention.  When  visiting  England  he  was 
pointed  out  on  the  streets  of  Liverpool  by  an  English  navvy,  who 
said,  "  There  goes  a  king."  And  Sydney  Smith  exclaimed,  "  Good 
heavens !  he  is  a  small  cathedral  in  himself."  Webster  was  five 
feet  ten  inches  in  height,  and  after  reaching  maturity  weighed  a 
little  less  than  two  hundred  pounds.  While  these  are  the  propor 
tions  of  a  large  man,  they  are  not  unusual,  and  do  not  explain  why 
he  was  so  often  called  a  "giant."  This  is  rather  explained  by 
the  fact  that,  as  Phillips  says  of  O'Connell,  "his  presence  filled 
the  eye."  Webster  had  an  unusually  large  head,  his  brain  being 
one  of  the  three  heaviest  on  record  ;  straight  black  hair ;  a  high, 
broad  forehead  ;  heavy,  black,  "  beetling "  eyebrows  ;  high  cheek 
bones  ;  a  prominent  aquiline  nose  ;  a  large,  firm  mouth  ;  a  swarthy 
(copper)  complexion ;  and,  most  remarkable  of  all,  large,  deep-set 
black  eyes,  "  glowing  like  anthracite  coal."  Even  in  his  youth  he 
was  noted  for  the  "  Batchelder  eyes  "  (from  his  mother,  and  also 
inherited  by  Caleb  Gushing,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  and  John  G. 
Whittier).  Webster  himself  says  that  as  a  boy  in  his  native  town 
he  was  called  All-Eyes.  Attractive  in  repose,  when  aroused  few 
could  withstand  his  look  ;  "the  dull  black  eyes  under  the  precipice 
of  brows,"  wrote  Carlyle  to  Emerson,  "  like  dull  anthracite  furnaces 
needing  only  to  be  blown" 

Webster's  voice  was  in  harmony  with  his  physical  impressive- 
ness.  It  had  great  compass,  —  was  low  and  musical  in  conversation, 
in  debate  high  and  full,  now  ringing  out  like  a  clarion,  and  then 
sinking  to  deep,  rich,  organlike  notes. 


56    THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

Withal  he  had  a  dignity  in  carriage  and  delivery  which  com 
ported  with  these  physical  attributes.  It  has  been  said  that  his 
fame  as  an  orator  rests  upon  the  fact  that  "  he  never  spoke  except 
on  great  themes."  Though  this  may  not  be  literally  true,  certain 
it  is  that  there  runs  through  all  his  speeches  a  vein  of  seriousness 
and  dignity  befitting  the  subject  and  the  occasion.  Speaking  usu 
ally  on  great  themes,  he  always  had  the  great  manner,— sometimes 
pompous  and  heavy,  perhaps,  but  never  any  suggestion  of  the 
«  funny  man."  He  never  descends  to  personal  abuse.  The  nearest 
approach  to  this,  perhaps,  may  be  found  in  his  "  Reply  to  Hayne," 
where  his  elephantine  humor  and  withering  sarcasm  were  used 
with  crushing  effect ;  but  these  were  justified  by  the  nature,  and 
method  of  Hayne's  attack. 

With  such  marvelous  physical  gifts,  we  should  naturally  expect 
that  the  immediate  influence  of  his  oratory  would  be  very  effect 
ive,  and  such  was  the  case.  Two  or  three  instances  must  suffice. 
Mr.  Ticknor,  a  man  not  disposed  by  training  or  habits  to  indulge 
a  facile  enthusiasm,  after  hearing  the  Plymouth  oration  wrote  to 
a.  friend : 

"  I  was  never  so  excited  by  public  speaking  before  in  my  life. 
Three  or  four  times  I  thought  my  temples  would  burst  with  the 
gush  of  blood ;  for,  after  all,  you  must  know  that  I  am  aware  it  is 
no  connected  whole,  but  a  collection  of  wonderful  fragments  of 
burning  eloquence,  to  which  his  whole  manner  gave  tenfold  force. 
When  I  came  out  I  was  almost  afraid  to  come  near  him.  It 
seemed  to  me  as  if  he  was  like  the  mount  that  might  not  be 
touched  and  that  burned  with  fire." 

The  immediate  effect  of  his  peroration  in  the  Dartmouth  Col 
lege  and  Hayne  speeches  has  been  so  frequently  told  that  it  requires 
no  repetition  here.  After  the  Seventh  of  March  speech  (previ 
ously  alluded  to)  a  noted  abolitionist  leader  and  bitter  opponent 
is  reported  to  have  said,  "  When  Webster,  speaking  of  secession, 
asked  <  What  is  to  become  of  me  ? '  I  was  thrilled  with  a  sense 
of  some  awful  impending  calamity."  Again,  while  addressing  an 
immense  audience  in  Boston,  at  a  time  when  the  Whig  party 
thought  of  dissolution,  Webster  asked,  "  If  you  break  up  the 
Whig  party,  where  am  /  to  go  ?  "  James  Russell  Lowell,  who  was 
in  the  audience,  said,  "We  held  our  breath,  thinking  where  he 
could  go ;  but  if  he  had  been  five  feet  three,  we  should  have  said, 
<  Who  cares  where  you  go  ? '  "  In  his  Autobiography  of  Seventy 


WEBSTER  57 

Years,  Senator  Hoar  writes  of  the  time  when  he  first  saw  Webster, 
June  17,  1843,  at  the  dedication  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument: 

"  His  countenance,  his  figure,  and  his  manners  were  all  in  so 
grand  a  style  that  he  was,  without  effort,  as  superior  to  his  most 
eminent  rivals  as  they  were  to  the  humblest.  He,  alone  of  all  men, 
did  not  disappoint  the  eye  and  the  ear,  but  was  a  fit  figure  in  the 
landscape.  There  was  the  monument  and  there  was  Webster !  .  .  . 
The  whole  occasion  was  answered  by  his  presence." 

Favorable  as  were  Webster's  natural  endowments,  they  were  not 
brought  to  the  perfection  he  attained  without  training.    The  "  ora 
torical  instinct"  developed  early.    As  a. boy  he  cultivated  the  art 
of  declaiming  and  reading  aloud.    We  are  told  how  the  passing 
teamsters,  while  they  watered  their  horses,  delighted  to  get  "  Web 
ster's  boy,"  with  his  delicate  look  and  great  dark  eyes,  to  come 
out  beneath  the  shade  of  the  trees  and  read  the  Bible  to  them 
with  all  the  force  of  his  childish  eloquence.    At  Exeter  Academy 
timidity  overcame  him  and  he  could  not  summon  courage  to  de 
claim.    "  Many  a  piece  did  I  commit  to  memory,"  he  said,  «  and 
recite  and  rehearse  in  my  own  room,  over  and  over  again ;  yet 
when  the  day  came  on  which  the  school  collected  to  hear  decla 
mations,  when  my  name  was  called,  and  I  saw  all  eyes  turned  to 
my  seat,  I  could  not  raise  myself  from  it."    At  college,  however, 
he  found  his  voice,  and  devoted  much  time  to  practice  in  speaking. 
He  thus  attracted  sufficient  notice  to  be  invited  by  the  citizens  of 
the  town  of  Hanover  to  deliver  a  Fourth  of  July  oration.    As  to 
his  manner  of  speaking  in  his  college  days,  Senator  Lodge  writes  l : 
"  He  would  enter  the  classroom  or  debating  society  and  begin  in 
a  low  voice  and  almost  sleepy  manner,  and  would  then  gradually 
rouse  himself  like  a  lion,  and  pour  forth  his  words  until  he  had 
his  hearers  completely  under  his  control,  and  glowing  with  enthu 
siasm."    This  characterization  is  interesting  in  that  it  describes 
Webster  more  especially  as  he  was  in  his  later  days,  —  a  lion  that 
needed  to  be  aroused.    He  was  conscious,  of  course,  of  his  superb 
physical  gifts,  and  as  he  grew  older  came  to  rely  on  them  more 
and  more.    Though  a  man  with  great  capacity  for  work,  and  often 
devoting  himself  with  intense  and  protracted  application,  he  was 
phlegmatic  in  temperament,  and  his  constitutional  sluggishness 
naturally  increased  as  he  grew  older,  until  a  direct  stimulus  was 
needed  to  make  him  exert  himself.    «  In  his  latter  days  he  made 
1  Lodge,  Daniel  Webster  (American  Statesman  Series),  p.  19. 


58      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

many  careless  and  dull  speeches,  and  carried  them  through  by  the 
power  of  his  look  and  manner,  but  the  time  never  came  when,  if 
fairly  aroused,  he  failed  to  sway  the  hearts  and  understandings  of 
men  by  a  grand  and  splendid  eloquence.  The  lion  slept  very  often, 
but  it  never  became  safe  to  rouse  him  from  his  slumber." 1 

So  much  as  to  Webster's  manner  as  an  orator.  The  matter  and 
style  of  his  speeches  open  up  such  a  broad  subject  that  only  a  few 
salient  features  can  be  considered. 

And  first,  the  perfection  of  a  style  that  has  come  to  be  known 
as  distinctively  Websterian  came  by  laborious  preparation  and 
gradual  development.  Unlike  Phillips  and  Grady,  for  example, 
whose  first  noteworthy  speeches  were  as  good  as  later  ones,  there 
can  be  traced  in  Webster's  published  speeches  a  gradual  improve 
ment  in  logical  structure  and  simplicity  of  diction,  and  if  some  of 
his  earlier  efforts  be  included  in  the  comparison,  the  improvement 
is  all  the  more  striking.  Webster  was  a  man  of  slow  growth,  not 
reaching  his  highest  point  until  he  was  nearly  fifty  years  of  age. 
He  passed  through  the  "  Sophomoric  "  stage  of  bombast  and 
emptiness.  His  speeches  delivered  during  his  college  days  and 
immediately  afterward  are,  when  compared  with  his  really  great 
speeches,  very  florid,  inflated,  and  heavy.  In  this  connection  it 
will  be  interesting  to  note  his  own  testimony  on  the  formation 
of  his  literary  style  and  his  method  of  preparing  his  speeches.  In 
reply  to  questions  on  these  matters  at  different  times  and  by  differ 
ent  persons,  he  is  reported  to  have  said : 

"  When  I  was  a  young  man,  a  student  in  college,  I  delivered  a 
Fourth  of  July  oration.  A  copy  of  it  was  given  to  the  press,  and 
a  review  of  it  appeared.  The  critic  praised  parts  of  the  oration  as 
vigorous  and  eloquent,  but  other  parts  he  criticised  severely,  say 
ing  they  were  mere  emptiness.  I  thought  this  criticism  was  just, 
and  I  resolved  that  whatever  should  be  said  of  my  style,  from 
that  time  forth  there  should  be  no  emptiness  in  it.  I  read  such 
English  authors  as  fell  in  my  way,  particularly  Addison,  with  great 
care.  Besides,  I  remembered  that  I  had  to  earn  my  bread  by 
addressing  the  understandings  of  common  men,  —  by  convincing 
juries,  —  and  that  I  must  use  language  intelligible  to  them.  You 
will  therefore  find  in  my  speeches  to  juries  no  hard  words,  no  Latin 
phrase.  .  .  .  When  I  was  a  young  man,  my  style  was  bombastic 

1  Lodge,  Daniel  Webster  (American  Statesman  Series),  p.  19. 


WEBSTER  59 

and  pompous  in  the  extreme,  and  I  determined  to  correct  it,  if 
labor  could  do  it.  Whether  it  has  been  corrected  or  not,  no  small 
part  of  my  life  has  been  spent  in  the  attempt.  ...  I  early  felt  the 
importance  of  thought.  I  have  rewritten  sentence  after  sentence 
and  pondered  long  upon  each  alteration.  For  depend  upon  it,  it 
is  with  our  thoughts  as  with  our  persons,  their  intrinsic  value  is 
mostly  undervalued  unless  expressed  in  attractive  garb.  .  .  .  No 
man  who  is  not  inspired  can  make  a  good  speech  without  prepa 
ration  ;  if  there  are  any  of  that  sort  of  people,  I  have  never  met 
them.  My  reply  to  Hayne  was  based  upon  full  notes  that  I  had 
made  for  another  speech  upon  the  same  general  subject.  If  he 
had  tried  to  make  a  speech  to  fit  my  notes,  he  could  not  have  hit 
it  better.  The  materials  for  that  speech  had  been  lying  in  my  mind 
for  eighteen  months,  though  I  had  never  committed  my  thoughts 
to  paper,  or  arranged  them  in  my  memory.  As  for  speaking  '  on 
the  spur  of  the  moment,'  there  is  no  such  thing  as  extemporaneous 
acquisition." 

From  the  foregoing  it  appears  that  Webster  took  great  pains  in 
the  preparation  of  his  speeches  —  especially  was  this  true  of  the 
orations  delivered  on  special  occasions — and  was  a  severe  critic 
of  his  own  style.  The  result  was  a  style  of  which  the  most  strik 
ing  characteristics  are  massive  strength  joined  with  perfect  sim 
plicity  ;  a  preference,  as  he  himself  said,  for  Anglo-Saxon  words ; 
short  sentences,  where  required  for  the  most  direct  and  vigorous 
expression  of  the  thought,  yet  sufficient  variety  to  avoid  harshness 
and  monotony. 

Some  of  Webster's  critics  are  fond  of  comparing  him  with 
Burke.  In  the  organization  of  material  and,  at  times,  in  the  Mil- 
tonic  grandeur  of  expression,  the  comparison  holds  good.  But  the 
difference  was  that  one  had  the  very  highest  order  of  talent,  the 
other  had  the  very  highest  order  of  genius.  Burke  surpasses  him 
in  genius  as  he  surpasses  Burke  in  the  power  to  make  genius 
immediately  effective.  Webster  was  the  better  orator,  for  he  won 
his  causes.  He  never  allowed  his  hearers  to  lose  sight  of  the  main 
issue  in  a  multitude  of  details.  He  had  not  Burke's  imagination, 
but  his  figures  of  speech  rarely  violated  the  canons  of  good  taste. 
As  another  has  said,  "  Where  Webster  reasoned;  Burke  philoso 
phized  ;  where  Webster  was  serene,  equable,  ponderous,  dealing 
his  blows  like  an  ancient  catapult,  Burke  was  clamorous,  fiery, 
multitudinous,  rushing  forward  like  his  own  'whirlwind  of  cavalry.' 


60     THE   MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

.  .  .  Webster  was  the  Roman  temple,  stately,  solid,  massive; 
.Burke,  the  Gothic  cathedral,  fantastic,  aspiring,  and  many-colored. 
Webster  advances,  in  his  heavy  logical  march  and  his  directness 
of  purpose,  like  a  Caesarean  legion,  close,  serried,  firm,  square  ; 
Burke,  like  an  oriental  procession,  with  elephants  and  trophies, 
and  the  pomp  of  banners." 

Unlike  many  orators  of  ephemeral  fame,  and  contrary  to  the 
maxim  of  Fox,  Webster's  speeches  read  well.  Many  of  those  on 
contemporary  questions  are  of  course  dull  reading,  but  not  so  the 
majority  of  his  speeches.  His  great  efforts  in  the  fields  of  deliber 
ative,  demonstrative,  and  forensic  oratory  have  a  literary  value  of 
the  highest  and  most  lasting  kind,  and  hold  first  rank  in  oratorical 
dterature.  As  Goldwin  Smith  says,1 "  In  political  oratory  it  would  be 
hard  to  find  anything  superior  to  the  Reply  to  Hayne  ;  in  demon 
strative  oratory,  anything  superior  to  the  Plymouth  oration ;  in 
forensic  oratory,  anything  superior  to  the  speech  on  the  murder  of 
White." 

Matter  and  manner  both  considered,  Webster  may  well  be 
viewed  as  "  the  perfected  fruit  of  twenty-four  centuries  of  oratorical 
culture."  When  we  consider  that  for  fifty  years  he  practiced  all 
branches  of  oratory  and  excelled  in  each  ;  whe.n  we  consider  the 
mastery  shown  in  the  great  variety  of  subjects  with  which  he  dealt ; 
when  we  remember  his  immediate  influence  over  an  audience,  and 
the  continued  influence  of  those  great  speeches  which  are  still 
read  and  studied  as  literary  masterpieces,  —  we  must  conclude  that, 
measured  by  absolute  standards,  so  far  as  such  standards  can  be 
fixed,  he  was  the  greatest  orator  of  modern  times,  and  holds  his 
own  in  comparison  with  the  ancients. 

While  Webster  is  perhaps  best  known  as  an  orator  and  states 
man,  his  record  as  a  lawyer  would  alone  have  gained  him  a  national 
reputation.  Though  not  a  maker  of  law  as  were  Mansfield  or 
Marshall,  he  had  a  wide,  sure,  and  ready  knowledge  of  both  prin 
ciples  and  cases.  As  an  advocate  he  had  "  a  quick  apprehension, 
an  unerring  sagacity  for  vital  and  essential  points,  a  perfect  sense 
of  proportion,  an  almost  unequaled  power  of  statement,  backed 
by  reasoning  at  once  close  and  lucid."  It  was  fortunate  for  Webster 
that  he  early  came  in  contact  with  one  of  the  greatest  masters  of  the 

1  Nineteenth  Century,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  262. 


WEBSTER  6l 

common  law  this  country  has  ever  produced,  Jeremiah  Mason.  It 
has  been  said  that  Mason  educated  Webster  into  a  lawyer  by 
opposing  him.  Of  all  men  who  ever  appeared  before  a  jury  Mason 
was  the  most  terrible  enemy  of  florid  rhetoric.  Six  feet  and  seven 
inches  high,  and  corpulent  in  proportion,  he  stood,  while  he  was 
arguing  a  case,  "  quite  near  to  the  jury,"  says  Webster,  — "  so 
near  that  he  might  have  laid  his  finger  on  the  foreman's  nose  ;  and 
then  he  talked  to  them  in  a  plain  conversational  way,  in  short  sen 
tences,  and  using  no  word  that  was  not  level  to  the  comprehension 
of  the  least  educated  man  on  the  panel.  This  led  me,"  he  adds, 
"  to  examine  my  own  style,  and  I  set  about  reforming  it  altogether." 
The  pupil,  however,  in  time^  outstripped  his  master.  To  Mason's 
severe  logic  and  plain  statement,  Webster  added  the  persiiasive 
element  in  his  speeches  to  courts  and  juries.  The  most  notable 
instance  of  this  is  his  argument  in  the  Dartmouth  College  Case. 
In  addition  to  the  exhaustive  citation  of  authorities  by  which  the 
reasoning  was  sustained,  he  so  infused  emotion  into  his  reasoning 
that  it  had  its  effect  even  on  the  judges  of  our  Supreme  Court,— 
as  was  evidenced  again  in  the  argument  of  Joseph  H.  Choate  in 
the  Income  Tax  Case  of  1890. 

As  an  example  of  a  jury  address,  the  speech  that  follows  has 
long  been  considered  a  model  of  its  kind.  The  judicial  attitude 
whereby  Webster  constitutes  himself  the  thirteenth  juryman ;  the 
avoidance  of  the  overstatement  of  his  own  case  or  understatement 
of  his  opponent's  case  ;  the  logical  structure  ;  the  massing,  weigh 
ing,  and  handling  of  the  circumstantial  and  direct  evidence ;  the 
skillful  bridging  of  wide  gaps  in  the  testimony ;  and  the  eloquent 
concluding  .appeal,  make  this  a  speech  unsurpassed  in  forensic 
oratory. 

As  to  the  circumstances  which  gave  rise  to  this  speech,  the 
following  account  of  the  case,  condensed  from  that  given  in  Vol 
ume  I  of  Webster's  Works,  will  assist  the  reader  to  a  better  under 
standing  of  the  argument: 

On  the  morning  of  April  7,  1830,  Captain  Joseph  White,  a 
retired  wealthy  merchant  eighty-two  years  of  age,  was  found  mur 
dered  in  his  bed  in  his  mansion  house  at  Salem,  Massachusetts. 
The  murder  was  first  discovered  by  Mr/White's  manservant.  He 
and  the  maidservant  were  the  only  persons  who  slept  in  the  house 
that  night,  except  Mr.  White  himself,  whose  niece,  Mrs.  Beckford, 


62      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

his  housekeeper,  was  then  absent  on  a  visit  to  her  daughter  at 
Wenham. 

The  physicians  and  the  coroner's  jury,  who  were  called  to  exam 
ine  the  body,  found  on  it  thirteen  deep  stabs,  made  as  if  by  a 
sharp  dirk  or  poniard,  and  the  appearance  of  a  heavy  blow  on 
the  left  temple,  which  had  fractured  the  skull  but  not  broken  the 
skin.  The  body  was  cold  and  appeared  to  have  been  lifeless  many 
hours. 

On  examining  the  apartments  of  the  house,  it  did  not  appear 
that  any  valuable  articles  had  been  taken  or  the  house  ransacked 
for  them;  there  was  a  rouleau  of  doubloons  in  an  iron  chest  in 
his  chamber,  and  costly  plate  in  other  apartments,  none  of  which 
was  missing. 

Large  rewards  for  the  detection  of  the  murderers  were  offered 
by  the  heirs  of  the  deceased,  by  the  selectmen  of  the  town,  and 
by  the  governor  of  the  state.  The  citizens  held  a  public  meeting, 
and  appointed  a  Committee  of  Vigilance,  of  twenty-seven  members, 
to  make  all  possible  exertions  to  ferret  out  the  offenders. 

Meantime  it  was  announced  that  a  bold  attempt  at  highway 
robbery  was  made  in  Wenham,  by  three  footpads,  on  Joseph  and 
Frank  Knapp,  on  the  evening  of  the  2;th  of  April,  while  they 
were  returning  in  a  chaise  from  Salem  to  their  residence  in  Wen- 
ham.  They  appeared  before  the  investigating  committee  'and  tes 
tified  to  the  attack. 

Not  the  slightest  clew  to  the  murder  could  be  found  for  several 
weeks,  and  the  mystery  seemed  to  be  impenetrable.  At  length  a 
prisoner  in  the  jail  at  New  Bedford,  seventy  miles  from  Salem, 
intimated  that  he  could  make  important  disclosures.  A  confiden 
tial  messenger  was  immediately  sent  to  ascertain  wh,at  he  knew 
on  the  subject.  The  prisoner's  name  was  Hatch ;  he  had  been 
committed  before  the  murder.  He  stated  that,  some  months  before 
the  murder,  he  had  associated  in  Salem  with  Richard  Crownin- 
shield,  Jr.,  of  Danvers,  and  had  often  heard  Crowninshield  express 
his  intention  to  destroy  the  life  of  Mr.  White. 

The  disclosures  of  Hatch  received  credit  When  the  Supreme 
Court  met  at  Ipswich  the  Attorney-General,  Morton,  moved  for  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  ad  testif.,  and  Hatch  was  carried  in  chains 
from  New  Bedford  before  the  grand  jury,  and  on  his  testimony 
an  indictment  was  found  against  Crowninshield.  Other  witnesses 
testified  that  on  the  night  of  the  murder  his  brother,  George 


WEBSTER  63 

Crowninshield,  Colonel  Benjamin  Selman  of  Marblehead,  and 
Daniel  Chase  of  Lynn  were  together  in  Salem  at  a  gambling 
house  usually  frequented  by  Richard ;  these  were  indicted  as 
accomplices  in  the  crime.  They  were  all  arrested  on  the  2d  of 
May,  arraigned  on  the  indictment,  and  committed  to  prison  to 
await  the  sitting  of  a  court  that  should  have  jurisdiction  of  the 
offense. 

A  fortnight  afterwards  Captain  Joseph  J.  Knapp,  a  shipmaster 
and  merchant,  a  man  of  good  character,  received  by  mail  a  letter 
signed  "  Charles  Grant,  Jr.,"  demanding  a  large  sum  of  money  and 
threatening  to  make  ruinous  disclosures  if  the  money  were  not 
forthcoming  at  once.  This  letter  was  an  enigma  to  Captain  Knapp ; 
he  knew  no  man  of  the  name  of  Charles  Grant,  Jr.,  and  had  no 
acquaintance  at  Belfast,  a  town  in  Maine  two  hundred  miles  dis 
tant  from  Salem.  After  poring  over  it  in  vain,  he  handed  it  to  his 
son,  Phippen  Knapp,  a  young  lawyer ;  to  him  also  the  letter  was 
inexplicable.  Captain  Knapp  and  his  son  Phippen  therefore  con 
cluded  to  ride  to  Wenham,  seven  miles  distant,  and  show  the  let 
ter  to  Captain  Knapp's  other  two  sons,  Joseph  and  Frank,  who 
were  then  residing  at  Wenham  with  Mrs.  Beckford,  the  niece  and 
late  housekeeper  of  Mr.  White,  and  the  mother  of  the  wife  of 
Joseph  Knapp.  The  latter  perused  the  letter,  told  his  father  it 
"  contained  a  devilish  lot  of  trash,"  and  requested  him  to  hand  it 
to  the  Committee  of  Vigilance.  Captain  Knapp,  on  his  return  to 
Salem  that  evening,  accordingly  delivered  the  letter  to  the  chair 
man  of  the  Committee. 

The  next  day  Joseph  Knapp  went  to  Salem  and  requested  one 
of  his  friends  to  drop  into  the  Salem  post  office  two  pseudony 
mous  letters,  addressed  to  the  Vigilance  Committee  and  to  Stephen 
White  (a  nephew  of  Joseph  White  and  his  principal  legatee)  and 
signed  " Grant"  and  "  N.  Claxton,  4th,"  respectively.  When  Knapp 
delivered  these  letters  to  his  friend,  he  said,  "  My  father  has  re 
ceived  an  anonymous  letter,  and  what  I  want  you  for  is  to  put 
these  in  the  post  office  in  order  to  nip  this  silly  affair  in  the  bud." 
When  the  Committee  of  Vigilance  read  and  considered  the  letter 
purporting  to  be  signed  by  Charles  Grant,  Jr.,  which  had  been 
delivered  to  them  by  Captain  Knapp,  they  immediately  dispatched 
a  discreet  messenger  to  Belfast,  in  Maine;  he  explained  his 
business  confidentially  to  the  postmaster  there,  deposited  a  letter 
addressed  to  Charles  Grant,  Jr.,  and  awaited  the  call  of  Grant  to 


64     THE   MURDER   OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

receive  it.  He  soon  called  for  it,  when  an  officer  stationed  in  the 
house  stepped  forward  and  arrested  Grant.  On  examining  him,  it 
appeared  that  his  true  name  was  Palmer.  While  he  protested  his 
own  innocence,  he  disclosed  that  he  had  been  an  associate  of 
Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  and  George  Crowninshield  ;  that  he  had 
spent  part  of  the  winter  at  Danvers  and  Salem,  under  the  name  of 
Carr ;  that  part  of  the  time  he  had  been  their  guest,  concealed  in  their 
father's  house  in  Danvers ;  that  on  the  2d  of  April  he  saw  from 
the  windows  of  the  house  Frank  Knapp  and  a  young  man  named 
Allen  ride  up.  to  the  house  ;  that  George  walked  away  with  Frank, 
and  Richard  with  Allen  ;  that  on  their  return  George  told  Richard 
that  Frank  wished  them  to  undertake  to  kill  Mr.  White,  and  that 
Joseph  Knapp  would  pay  one  thousand  dollars  for  the  job ;  that  they 
proposed  various  modes  of  executing  it,  and  asked  Palmer  to  be 
concerned,  which  he  declined ;  that  George  said  the  housekeeper 
would  be  away  at  the  time ;  that  the  object  of  Joseph  Knapp  was 
to  destroy  the  will,  because  it  gave  most  of  the  property  to  Stephen 
White ;  that  Joseph  Knapp  was  first  to  destroy  the  will ;  that  he 
could  get  from  the  housekeeper  the  keys  of  the  iron  chest  in  which 
it  was  kept;  that  Frank  called  again  the  same  day,  in  a  chaise, 
and  rode  away  with  Richard ;  and  that  on  the  night  of  the  murder 
Palmer  stayed  at  the  Halfway  House  in  Lynn. 

A  warrant  was  issued  at  once  against  Joseph  Knapp  and  Frank 
Knapp,  and  they  were  taken  into  custody  and  imprisoned  to  await 
the  arrival  of  Palmer  for  their  examination. 

Joseph  Knapp,  on  the  third  day  of  his  imprisonment,  made  a 
full  confession  that  he  projected  the  murder.  He  knew  that  Mr. 
White  had  made  his  will  and  given  to  Mrs.  Beckford,  Knapp's 
mother-in-law,  a  legacy  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  but  supposed 
that  if  he  died  without  leaving  a  will,  she  would  inherit  nearly  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  corroborated  all  that  Palmer  had 
said,  and  gave  full  details  of  the  crime.  He  further  confessed 
that  the  account  of  the  Wenham  robbery,  on  the  27th  of  April, 
was  a  sheer  fabrication. 

Palmer  was  brought  to  Salem  in  irons  and  committed  to  prison. 
Richard  Crowninshield  saw  him  taken  from  the  carriage,  and  thus 
finding  the  proofs  of  his  guilt  and  depravity  thicken,  committed 
suicide  by  hanging  himself  to  the  bars  of  his  cell.  He  left  letters 
to  his  father  and  brother  expressing  in  general  terms  the  vicious- 
ness  of  his  life  and  his  hopelessness  of  escape  from  punishment. 


WEBSTER  65 

A  special  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  held  at  Salem  on  the 
2oth  of  July  for  the  trial  of  the  prisoners  charged  with  the  mur 
der;  it  continued  in  session  till  the  2oth  of  August,  with  a  few 
days'  intermission.  An  indictment  for  the  murder  was  found 
against  Frank  Knapp  as  principal,  and  Joseph  Knapp  and  George 
Crowninshield  as  accessories. 

The  principal,  Frank  Knapp,  was  first  put  on  trial.  An  acces 
sory  in  a  murder  could  not  be  tried  until  a  principal  had  been  con 
victed.  He  was  defended  by  advocates  of  high  reputation  for 
ability  and  eloquence;  the  trial  was  long  and  arduous,  and  the 
witnesses  numerous.  His  brother  Joseph,  who  had  made  a  full 
confession,  on  the  government's  promise  of  immunity  if  he  would 
in  good  faith  testify  the  truth,  was  brought  into  court,  called  to 
the  stand  as  a  witness,  but  declined  to  testify.  To  convict  the 
prisoner  it  was  necessary  for  the  government  to  prove  that  he 
was  present,  actually  or  constructivefy,  as  an  aider  or  abettor  in 
the  murder.  The  evidence  was  strong  that  there  was  a  conspiracy 
to  commit  the  murder,  that  the  prisoner  was  one  of  the  conspira 
tors,  that  at  the  time  of  the  murder  he  was  in  Brown  Street  at  the 
rear  of  Mr.  White's  garden ;  and  the  jury  were  satisfied  that  he 
was  in  that  place  to  aid  and  abet  in  the  murder,  ready  to  afford 
assistance  if  necessary.  He  was  convicted.  Joseph  Knapp  was 
afterwards  tried  as  an  accessory  before  the  fact  and  convicted. 
George  Crowninshield  proved  an  alibi  and  was  discharged.  The 
execution  of  the  Knapp  brothers  closed  the  tragedy. 

It  may  be  added  that  the  crime  itself  was  committed  under  a 
misapprehension,  Joseph  Knapp  having  erroneously  been  informed 
that  if  Captain  White  died  intestate  Mrs.  Beckford,  Knapp's  mother- 
in-law,  would  inherit  half  the  estate.  It  also  appears  that  although 
a  will  was  abstracted,  another  and  subsequent  will  was  found  among 
the  murdered  man's  effects. 

At  the  trial  of  Frank  Knapp,  Franklin  Dexter,  Esq.,  addressed  the 
jury  on  behalf  of  the  prisoner,  and  Webster  replied  in  the  following 
speech. 

i.  I  am  little  accustomed,  Gentlemen,  to  the  part  which  I 
am  now  attempting  to  perform.  Hardly  more  than  once  or 
twice  has  it  happened  to  me  to  be  concerned  on  the  side  of  the 
government  in  any  criminal  prosecution  whatever ;  and  never, 
until  the  present  occasion,  in  any  case  affecting  life. 


66      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

2.  But  I  very  much  regret  that  it  should  have  been  thought 
necessary  to  suggest  to  you  that  I  am  brought  here  to  "  hurry 
you  against  the  law  and  beyond  the  evidence."  I  hope  I  have 
too  much  regard  for  justice,  and  too  much  respect  for  my  own 
5  character,  to  attempt  either ;  and  were  I  to  make  such  attempt, 
I  am  sure  that  in  this  court  nothing  can  be  carried  against  the 
law,  and  that  gentlemen,  intelligent  and  just  as  you  are,  are 
not,  by  any  power,  to  be  hurried  beyond  the  evidence.  Though 
I  could  well  have  wished  to  shun  this  occasion,  I  have  not  felt 

10  at  liberty  to  withhold  my  professional  assistance,  when  it  is 
supposed  that  I  may  be  in  some  degree  useful  in  investigating 
and  discovering  the  truth  respecting  this  most  extraordinary 
murder.  It  has  seemed  to  be  a  duty  incumbent  on  me,  as  on 
every  other  citizen,  to  do  my  best  and  my  utmost  to  bring  to 

15  light  the  perpetrators  of  this  crime.  Against  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar,  as  an  individual,  I  cannot  have  the  slightest  prejudice. 
I  would  not  do  him  the  smallest  injury  or  injustice.  But  I  do 
not  affect  to  be  indifferent  to  the  discovery  and  the  punish 
ment  of  this  deep  guilt.  I  cheerfully  share  in  the  opprobrium, 

20  how  great  soever  it  may  be,  which  is  cast  on  those  who  feel 
and  manifest  an  anxious  concern  that  all  who  had  a  part 'in 
planning,  or  a  hand  in  executing,  this  deed  of  midnight  assas 
sination,  may  be  brought  to  answer  for  their  enormous  crime 
at  the  bar  of  public  justice. 

25  ^  3.  Gentlemen,  it  is  a  most  extraordinary  case.  In  some  re 
spects,  it  has  hardly  a  precedent  anywhere ;  certainly  none  in 
our  New  England  history.  This  bloody  drama  exhibited  no 
suddenly  excited,  ungovernable  rage.  The  actors  in  it  were 
not  surprised  by  any  lionlike  temptation  springing  upon  their 

30  virtue,  and  overcoming  it,  before  resistance  could  begin.  Nor 
did  they  do  the  deed  to  glut  savage  vengeance,  or  satiate  long- 
settled  and  deadly  hate.  It  was  a  cool,  calculating,  money- 
making  murder.  It  was  all  "hire  and  salary,  not  revenge." 
It  was  the  weighing  of  money  against  life;  the  counting 


WEBSTER  67 

out  of  so  many  pieces  of  silver  against  so  many  ounces  of 
blood. 

4.  An  aged  man,  without  an  enemy  in  the  world,  in  his  own 
house,  and  in  his  own  bed,  is  made  the  victim  of  a  butcherly 
murder,  for  mere  pay.    Truly,  here  is  a  new  lesson  for  painters    5 
and  poets.    Whoever  shall  hereafter  draw  the  portrait  of  mur 
der,  if  he  will  show  it  as  it  has  been  exhibited,  where  such 
example  was  last  to  have  been  looked  for,  in  the  very  bosom 

of  our  New  England  society,  let  him  not  give  it  the  grim 
visage  of  Moloch,  the  brow  knitted  by  revenge,  the  face  black  10 
with  settled  hate,  and  the  bloodshot  eye  emitting  livid  fires 
of  malice.    Let  him  draw,  rather,  a  decorous,  smooth-faced, 
bloodless  demon ;  a  picture  in  repose,  rather  than  in  action ; 
not  so  much  an  example  of  human  nature  in  its  depravity,  and 
in  its  paroxysms  of  crime,  as  an  infernal  being,  a  fiend,  in  the  15 
ordinary  display  and  development  of  his  character. 

5 .  The  deed  was  executed  with  a  degree  of  self-possession  and 
steadiness  equal  to  the  wickedness  with  which  it  was  planned. 
The  circumstances  now  clearly  in   evidence   spread   out   the 
whole  scene  before  us.    Deep  sleep  had  fallen  on  the  destined  20 
victim,  and  on  all  beneath  his  roof.    A  healthful  old  man,  to 
whom  sleep  was  sweet,  the  first  sound  slumbers  of  the  night 
held   him  in    their    soft  but   strong   embrace.    The   assassin 
enters,  through  the  window  already  prepared,  into  an  unoc 
cupied  apartment.    With  noiseless  foot  he  paces  the  lonely  25 
hall,  half  lighted  by  the  moon ;  he  winds  up  the  ascent  of  the 
stairs,  and  reaches  the  door  of  the  chamber.    Of  this,  he  moves 
the  lock,  by  soft  and  continued  pressure,  till  it  turns  on  its 
hinges  without  noise ;  and  he  enters,  and  beholds  his  victim 
before  him.    The  room  is  uncommonly  open  to  the  admission  30 
of  light.    The  face  of  the  innocent  sleeper  is  turned  from  the 
murderer,  and  the  beams  of  the  moon,  resting  on  the  gray  locks 

of  his  aged  temple,  show  him  where  to  strike.    The  fatal  blow 
is  given  !  and  the  victim  passes,  without  a  struggle  or  a  motion, 


68      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

from  the  repose  of  sleep  to  the  repose  of  death  !    It  is  the  assas 
sin's  purpose  to  make  sure  work ;  and  he  plies  the  dagger,  though 
it  is  obvious  that  life  has  been  destroyed  by  the  blow  of  the 
bludgeon.    He  even  raises  the  aged  arm,  that  he  may  not  fail  in 
5  his  aim  at  the  heart,  and  replaces  it  again  over  the  wounds  of 
the  poniard  !    To  finish  the  picture,  he  explores  the  wrist  for  the 
pulse  !    He  feels  for  it,  and  ascertains  that  it  beats  no  longer  ! 
It  is  accomplished.    The  deed  is  done.    He  retreats,  retraces 
his  steps  to  the  window,  passes  out  through  it  as  he  came  in, 
10  and  escapes.    He  has  done  the  murder.    No  eye  has  seen  him, 
no  ear  has  heard  him.    The  secret  is  his  own,  and  it  is  safe  ! 
~*  6.  Ah  !  Gentlemen,  that  was  a  dreadful  mistake.  Such  a  secret 
can  be  safe  nowhere.    The  whole  creation  of  God  has  neither 
nook  nor  comer  where  the  guilty  can  bestow  it,  and  say  it  is 
15  safe.    Not  to  speak  of  that  eye  which  pierces  through  all  dis 
guises,  and  beholds  everything  as  in  the  splendor  of  noon, 
such-  secrets  of  guilt  are  never  safe  from  detection,  even  by 
men.    True  it  is,  generally  speaking,  that  "  murder  will  out." 
True  it  is,  that  Providence  hath  so  ordained,  and  doth  so  govern 
20  things,  that  those  who  break  the  great  law  of  Heaven  by  shed 
ding  man's  blood  seldom  succeed  in  avoiding  discovery.    Espe 
cially  in  a  case  exciting  so  much  attention  as  this,  discovery 
must  come,  and  will  come,  sooner  or  later.    A  thousand  eyes 
turn  at  once  to  explore  every  man,  every  thing,  every  circum- 
25  stance,  connected  with  the  time  and  place;  a  thousand  ears 
catch  every  whisper ;  a  thousand  excited  minds  intensely  dwell 
on  the  scene,  shedding  all  their  light,  and  ready  to  kindle  the 
slightest  circumstance  into  a  blaze  of  discovery.    Meantime  the 
guilty  soul  cannot  keep  its  own  secret.     It  is  false  to  itself;  or 
30  rather  it  feels  an  irresistible  impulse  of  conscience  to  be  true 
to  itself.    It  labors  under  its  guilty  possession,  and  knows  not 
what  to  do  with  it.    The  human  heart  was  not  made  for  the 
residence  of  such  an  inhabitant.    It  finds  itself  preyed  on  by 
a  torment  which  it  dares  not  acknowledge  to  God  or  man.    A 


WEBSTER  f  69 

vulture  is  devouring  it,  and  it  can  ask  no  sympathy  or  assist 
ance,  either  from  heaven  or  earth.  The  secret  which  the  mur 
derer  possesses  soon  comes  to  possess  him ;  and,  like  the  evil 
spirits  of  which  we  read,  it  overcomes  him,  and  leads  him 
whithersoever  it  will.  He  feels  it  beating  at  his  heart,  rising  5 
to  his  throat,  and  demanding  disclosure.  He  thinks  the  whole 
world  sees  it  in  his  face,  reads  it  in  his  eyes,  and  almost  hears 
its  workings  in  the  very  silence  of  his  thoughts.  It  has  be 
come  his  master.  It  betrays  his  discretion,  it  breaks  down  his 
courage,  it  conquers  his  prudence.  When  suspicions  from  with-  10 
out  begin  to  embarrass  him,  and  the  net  of  circumstance  to  en 
tangle  him,  the  fatal  secret  struggles  with  still  greater  violence 
to  burst  forth.  It  must  be  confessed,  it  will  be  confessed; 
there  is  no  refuge  from  confession  but  suicide,  and  suicide  is 
confession.  I5 

7.  Much  has  been  said,  on  this  occasion,  of  the  excitement 
which  has  existed,  and  still  exists,  and  of  the  extraordinary 
measures  taken  to  discover  and  punish  the  guilty.    No  doubt 
there  has  been,  and  is,  much  excitement,  and  strange  indeed  it 
would  be  had  it  been  otherwise.    Should  not  all  the  peaceable  20 
and  well-disposed  naturally  feel  concerned,  and  naturally  exert 
themselves  to  bring  to  punishment  the  authors  of  this  secret 
assassination  ?    Was  it  a  thing  to  be  slept  upon  or  forgotten  ? 
Did  you,  Gentlemen,  sleep  quite  as  quietly  in  your  beds  after 
this  murder  as  before?    Was  it  not  a  case  for  rewards,  for  25 
meetings,  for  committees,  for  the  united  efforts  of  all  the  good, 

to  find  out  a  band  of  murderous  conspirators,  of  midnight  ruf 
fians,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  bar  of  justice  and  law  ?  If  this 
be  excitement,  is  it  an  unnatural  or  an  improper  excitement? 

8.  It  seems  to  me,  Gentlemen,  that  there  are  appearances  of  30 
another  feeling,  of  a  very  different  nature  and  character ;  not 
very  extensive,  I  would  hope,  but  still  there-is  too  much  evidence 

of  its  existence.  Such  is  human  nature,  that  some  persons  lose 
their  abhorrence  of  crime  in  their  admiration  of  its  magnificent 


70     THE   MURDER*  OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

exhibitions.  Ordinary  vice  is  reprobated  by  them,  but  extraor 
dinary  guilt,  exquisite  wickedness,  the  high  flights  and  poetry 
of  crime,  seize  on  the  imagination,  and  lead  them  to  forget  the 
depths  of  the  guilt,  in  admiration  of  the  excellence  of  the  per- 
5  formance,  or  the  unequalled  atrocity  of  the  purpose.  There  are 
those  in  our  day  who  have  made  great  use  of  this  infirmity 
of  our  nature,  and  by  means  of  it  done  infinite  injury  to  the 
cause  of  good  morals.  They  have  affected  not  only  the  taste, 
but  I  fear  also  the  principles,  of  the  young,  the  heedless,  and 

10  the  imaginative,  by  the  exhibition  of  interesting  and  beautiful 
monsters.  They  render  depravity  attractive,  sometimes  by  the 
polish  of  its  manners,  and  sometimes  by  its  very  extravagance, 
and  study  to  show  off  crime  under  all  the  advantages  of  clever 
ness  and  dexterity.  Gentlemen,  this  is  an  extraordinary  murder, 

15  but  it  is  still  a  murder.  We  are  not  to  lose  ourselves  in  wonder 
at  its  origin,  or  in  gazing  on  its  cool  and  skillful  execution.  We 
are  to  detect  and  punish  it ;  and  while  we  proceed  with  cau 
tion  against  the  prisoner,  and  are  to  be  sure  that  we  do  not 
visit  on  his  head  the  offenses  of  others,  we  are  yet  to  consider 

20  that  we  are  dealing  with  a  case  of  most  atrocious  crime,  which 
has  not  the  slightest  circumstance  about  it  to  soften  its  enor 
mity.  It  is  murder ;  deliberate,  concerted,  malicious  murder. 

9.  Although  the  interest  of  this  case  may  have  diminished 
by  the  repeated  investigation  of  the  facts,  still  the  additional 

25  labor  which  it  imposes  upon  all  concerned  is  not  to  be  re 
gretted  if  it  should  result  in  removing  all  doubts  of  the  guilt 
of  the  prisoner. 

10.  The  learned  counsel  for  the  prisoner  has  said  truly  that 
it  is  your  individual  duty  to  judge  the  prisoner ;  that  it  is  your 

30  individual  duty  to  determine  his  guilt  or  innocence ;  and  that 
you  are  to  weigh  the  testimony  with  candor  and  fairness.  But 
much  at  the  same  time  has  been  said,  which,  although  it  would 
seem  to  have  no  distinct  bearing  on  the  trial,  cannot  be  passed 
over  without  some  notice. 


WEBSTER  71 

n.  A  tone  of  complaint  so  peculiar  has  been  indulged  as 
would  almost  lead  us  to  doubt  whether  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
or  the  managers  of  this  prosecution,  are  now  on  trial.  Great 
pains  have  been  taken  to  complain  of  the  manner  of  the  prose 
cution.  We  hear  of  getting  up  a  case ;  of  setting  in  motion  5 
trains  of  machinery;  of  foul  testimony;  of  combinations  to 
overwhelm  the  prisoner ;  of  private  prosecutors ;  that  the  pris 
oner  is  hunted,  persecuted,  driven  to  his  trial ;  that  everybody 
is  against  him ;  and  various  other  complaints,  as  if  those  who 
would  bring  to  punishment  the  authors  of  this  murder  were  10 
almost  as  bad  as  they  who  committed  it. 

12.  In  the  course  of  my  whole  life,  I  have  never  heard  before 
so  much  said  about   the   particular  counsel  who  happen   to 
be  employed ;  as  if  it  were  extraordinary  that  other  counsel 
than. the  usual  officers^of  the  government  should  assist  in  the  15 
management  of  a  case   on  the  part  of  the  government.    In 
one  of  the  last  criminal  trials  in  this  county,  that  of  Jack- 
man  for  the  "  Goodridge  robbery"  (so  called),  I  remember 
that  the  learned  head  of  the  Suffolk  Bar,  Mr.  Prescott,  came 
down  in  aid   of   the   officers  of  the    government.    This  was  20 
regarded  as  neither  strange  nor  improper.     The  counsel  for 
the  prisoner,  in  that  case,  contented  themselves  with  answer 
ing  his  arguments,  as  far  as  they  were  able,  instead  of  carping 

at  his  presence. 

13.  Complaint  is  made  that  rewards  were  offered  in  this  25 
case,  and  temptations  held  out  to  obtain  testimony.    Are  not 
rewards  always   offered  when   great  and   secret  offenses  are 
committed  ?    Rewards  were  offered  in  the  case  to  which  I  have 
alluded  ;  and  every  other  means  taken  to  discover  the  offenders 
that  ingenuity  or  the  most  persevering  vigilance  could  suggest.  30 
The  learned  counsel  have  suffered  their  zeal  to  lead  them  into 

a  strain  of  complaint  at  the  manner  in  which  the  perpetrators  of 
this  crime  were  detected,  almost  indicating  that  they  regard 
it  as  a  positive  injury  to  them  to  have  found  out  their  guilt. 


72      THE   MURDER   OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

Since  no  man  witnessed  it,  since  they  do  not  now  confess  it, 
attempts  to  discover  it  are  half  esteemed  as  officious  inter 
meddling  and  impertinent  inquiry. 

14.  It  is  said,  that  here  even  a  Committee  of  Vigilance  was 
5  appointed.  This  is  a  subject  of  reiterated  remark.  This  com 
mittee  are  pointed  at,  as  though  they  had  been  officiously  in 
termeddling  with  the  administration  of  justice.  They  are  said 
to  have  been  "laboring  for  months"  against  the  prisoner. 
Gentlemen,  what  must  we  do  in  such  a  case?  Are  people  to 

10  be  dumb  and  still,  through  fear  of  overdoing?  Is  it  come  to 
this,  that  an  effort  cannot  be  made,  a  hand  cannot  be  lifted, 
to  discover  the  guilty,  without  its  being  said  there  is  a  com- 
bination  to  overwhelm  innocence?  Has  the  community  lost 
all  moral  sense?  Certainly,  a  community  that  would  not  be 

15  roused  to  action  upon  an  occasion  such  as  this  was,  a  .com 
munity  which  should  not  deny  sleep  to  their  eyes  and  slumber 
to  their  eyelids  till  they  had  exhausted  all  the  means  of  dis 
covery  and  detection,  must  indeed  be  lost  to  all  moral  sense, 
and  would  scarcely  deserve  protection  from  the  laws.  The 

20  learned  counsel  have  endeavored  to  persuade  you,  that  there 
exists  a  prejudice  against  the  persons  accused  of  this  murder. 
They  would  have  you  understand  that  it  is  not  confined  to  this 
vicinity  alone ;  but  that  even  the  legislature  have  caught  this 
spirit;  that  through  the  procurement  of  the  gentleman  here 

25  styled  private  prosecutor,  who  is  a  member  of  the  Senate,  a 
special  session  of  this  court  was  appointed  for  the  trial  of  these 
offenders;  that  the  ordinary  movements  of  the  wheels  of 
justice  were  too  slow  for  the  purposes  devised.  But  does  not 
everybody  see  and  know  that  it  was  matter  of  absolute  neces- 

30  sity  to  have  a  special  session  of  the  court?  When  or  how 
could  the  prisoners  have  been  tried  without  a  special  session? 
In  the  ordinary  arrangement  of  the  courts,  but  one  week  in  a 
year  is  allotted  for  the  whole  court  to  sit  in  this  county.  In 
the  trial  of  all  capital  offenses  a  majority  of  the  court,  at  least, 


WEBSTER  73 

is  required  to  be  present.  In  the  trial  of  the  present  case 
alone,  three  weeks  have  already  been  taken  up.  Without  such 
special  session,  then,  three  years  would  not  have  been  suffi 
cient  for  the  purpose.  It  is  answer  sufficient  to  all  complaints 
on  this  subject  to  say  that  the  law  was  drawn  by  the  late  5 
Chief  Justice  himself,  to  enable  the  court  to  accomplish  its 
duties,  and  to  afford  the  persons  accused  an  opportunity  for 
trial  without  delay. 

15.  Again,  it  is  said  that  it  was  not  thought  of  making  Frank 
Knapp,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  a  principal  till  after  the  death  10 
of  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr. ;  that  the  present  indictment  is 
an  afterthought ;  that  "  testimony  was  got  up  "  for  the  occasion. 

It  is  not  so.    There  is  no  authority  for  this  suggestion.    The 
case  of  the  Knapps  had  not  then  been  before  the  grand  jury. 
The  officers  of  the  government  did  not  know  what  the  tes-  15 
timony  would  be  against  them.    They  could  not,  therefore, 
have  determined  what  course  they  should  pursue.    They  in 
tended  to  arraign  all  as  principals  who  should  appear  to  have 
been  principals,  and  all  as  accessories  who  should  appear  to 
have  been  accessories.    All  this  could  be  known  only  when  the  20 
evidence  should  be  produced. 

1 6.  But  the  learned  counsel  for  the  defendant  take  a  some 
what  loftier  flight  still.    They  are  more  concerned,  they  assure 
us,  for  the  law  itself,  than  even  for  their  client.    Your  decision 

in  this  case,  they  say,  will  stand  as  a  precedent.   Gentlemen,  we  25 
hope  it  will.    We  hope  it  will  be  a  precedent  both  of  candor 
and  intelligence,  of  fairness  and  of  firmness ;  a  precedent  of 
good  sense  and  honest  purpose  pursuing  their  investigation 
discreetly,  rejecting  loose  generalities,  exploring  all  the  cir 
cumstances,  weighing  each,  in  search  of  truth,  and  embracing  30 
and  declaring  the  truth  when  found. 

17.  It  is  said  that  "laws  are  made,  not  for  the  punishment 
of  the  guilty,  but  for  the  protection  of  the  innocent."    This  is 
not  quite  accurate,  perhaps,  but  if  so,  we  hope  they  will  be  so 


74      THE    MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

administered  as  to  give  that  protection.  But  who  are  the  in 
nocent  whom  the  law  would  protect?  Gentlemen,  Joseph 
White  was  innocent.  They  are  innocent  who,  having  lived 
in  the  fear  of  God  through  the  day,  wish  to  sleep  in  peace 

5  through  the  night,  in  their  own  beds.  The  law  is  established 
that  those  who  live  quietly  may  sleep  quietly ;  that  they  who 
do  no  harm  may  feel  none.  The  gentleman  can  think  of  none 
that  are  innocent  except  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  not  yet  con 
victed.  Is  a  proved  conspirator  to  murder  innocent?  Are  the 

10  Crowninshields  and  the  Knapps  innocent?  What  is  inno 
cence?  How  deep  stained  with  blood,  how  reckless  in  crime, 
how  deep  in  depravity  may  it  be,  and  yet  retain  innocence? 
The  law  is  made,  if  we  would  speak  with  entire  accuracy,  to 
protect  the  innocent  by  punishing  the  guilty.  But  there  are 

15  those  innocent  out  of  a  court,  as  well  as  in ;  innocent  citizens 
not  suspected  of  crime,  as  well  as  innocent  prisoners  at  the  bar. 
1 8.  The  criminal  law  is  not  founded  in  a  principle  of  ven 
geance.  It  does  not  punish  that  it  may  inflict  suffering.  The 
humanity  of  the  law  feels  and  regrets  every  pain  it  causes, 

20  every  hour  of  restraint  it  imposes,  and  more  deeply  still  every 
life  it  forfeits.  But  it  uses  evil  as  the  means  of  preventing 
greater  evil.  If  seeks  to  deter  from  crime  by  the  example  of 
punishment.  This  is  its  true,  and  only  true  main  object.  It 
restrains  the  liberty  of  the  few  offenders,  that  the  many  who 

25  do  not  offend  may  enjoy  their  liberty.  It  takes  the  life  of  the 
murderer,  that  other  murders  may  not  be  committed.  The  law 
might  open  the  jails,  and  at  once  set  free  all  persons  accused 
of  offenses,  and  it  ought  to  do  so  if  it  could  be  made  certain 
that  no  other  offenses  would  hereafter  be  committed  ;  because 

30  it  punishes,  not  to  satisfy  any  desire  to  inflict  pain,  but  simply 
to  prevent  the  repetition  of  crimes.  When  the  guilty,  there 
fore,  are  not  punished,  the  law  has  so  far  failed  of  its  purpose; 
the  safety  of  the  innocent  is  so  far  endangered.  Every  unpun 
ished  murder  takes  away  something  from  the  security  of  every 


WEBSTER  75 

man's  life.  Whenever  a  jury,  through  whimsical  and  ill-founded 
scruples,  suffer  the  guilty  to  escape,  they  make  themselves  an 
swerable  for  the  augmented  danger  of  the  innocent. 

19.  We  wish  nothing  to  be  strained  against  this  defendant. 
Why,  then,  all  this  alarm?  Why  all  this  complaint  against  the  5 
manner  in  which  the  crime  is  discovered?  The  prisoner's  coun 
sel  gatch  at  supposed  flaws  of  evidence,  or  bad  character  of 
witnesses,  without  meeting  the  case.  Do  they  mean  to  deny 
the  conspiracy?  Do  they  mean  to  deny  that  the  two  Crownin- 
shields  and  the  two  Knapps  were  conspirators?  Why  do  they  10 
rail  against  Palmer,  while  they  do  not  disprove,  and  hardly  dis 
pute,  the  truth  of  any  one  fact  sworn  to  by  him?  Instead  of 
this,  it  is  made  matter  of  sentimentality  that  Palmer  has  been 
prevailed  upon  to  betray  his  bosom  companions  and  to  violate 
the  sanctity  of  friendship.  Again  I  ask,  Why  do  they  not  meet  15 
the  case?  If  the  fact  is  out,  why  not  meet  it?  Do  they  mean 
to  deny  that  Captain  White  is  dead?  One  would  have  almost 
supposed  even  that,  from  some  remarks  that  have  been  made. 
Do  they  mean  to  deny  the  conspiracy  ?  Or,  admitting  a  con 
spiracy,  do  they  mean  to  deny  only  that  Frank  Knapp,  the  20 
prisoner  at  the  bar,  was  abetting  in  the  murder,  being  present, 
and  so  deny  that  he  was  a  principal?  If  a  conspiracy  is  proved, 
it  bears  closely  upon  every  subsequent  subject  of  inquiry.  Why 
do  they  not  come  to  the  fact?  Here  the  defense  is  wholly  in 
distinct.  The  counsel  neither  take  the  ground,  nor  abandon  it.  25 
They  neither  fly,  nor  light.  They  hover.  But  they  must  come 
to  a  closer  mode  of  contest.  They  must  meet  the  facts,  and 
either  deny  or  admit  them.  Had  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
then,  a  knowledge  of  this  conspiracy  or  not  ?  This  is  the  ques 
tion.  Instead  of.  laying  out  their  strength  in  complaining  of  the  30 
manner  in  which  the  deed  is-  discovered,  of  the  extraordinary 
pains  taken  to  bring  the  prisoner's  guilt  to  light,  would  it  not 
be  better  to  show  there  was  no  guilt?  Would  it  not  be  better 
to  show  his  innocence?  They  say,  and  they  complain,  that 


76     THE   MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

the  community  feel  a  great  desire  that  he  should  be  punished 
for  his  crimes.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  convince  you  that  he 
has  committed  no  crime? 

20.  Gentlemen,  let  us  now  come  to  the   case.    Your  first 
5  inquiry,  on  the  evidence,  will  be,  Was  Captain  White  murdered 

in  pursuance  of  a  conspiracy,  and  was  the  defendant  one  of 
this  conspiracy?  If  so,  the  second  inquiry  is,  Was  he  sov con 
nected  with  the  murder  itself  as  that  he  is  liable  to  be  convicted 
as  a  principal '?  The  defendant  is  indicted  as  a  principal.  If 

10  not  guilty  as  such,  you  cannot  convict  him.  The  indictment 
contains  three  distinct  classes  of  counts.  In  the  first,  he  is 
charged  as  having  done  the  deed  with  his  own  hand ;  in  the 
second,  as  an  aider  and  abettor  to  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr., 
who  did  the  deed ;  in  the  third,  as  an  aider  and  abettor  to 

15  some  person  unknown.  If  you  believe  him  guilty  on  either  of 
these  counts,  or  in  either  of  these  ways,  you  must  convict  him. 

21.  It  may  be  proper  to  say,  as  a  preliminary  remark,  that 
there  are  two  extraordinary  circumstances  attending  this  trial. 
One  is,  that  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  the  supposed  imme- 

20  diate  perpetrator  of  the  murder,  since  his  arrest,  has  com 
mitted  suicide.  He  has  gone  to  answer  before  a  tribunal  of 
perfect  infallibility.  The  other  is,  that  Joseph  Knapp,  the 
supposed  originator  and  planner  of  the  murder,  having  once 
made  a  full  disclosure  of  the  facts,  under  a  promise  of  indem- 

25  nity,  is,  nevertheless,  not  now  a  witness.  Notwithstanding  his 
disclosure  and  his  promise  of  indemnity,  he  now  refuses  to 
testify.  He  chooses  to  return  to  his  original  state,  and  now 
stands  answerable  himself,  when  the  time  shall  come  for  his 
trial.  These  circumstances  it  is  fit  you  should  remember,  in 

30  your  investigation  of  the  case. 

2  2 .  Your  decision  may  affect  more  than  the  life  of  this  defend 
ant.  If  he  be  not  convicted  as  principal,  no  one  can  be.  Nor 
can  any  one  be  convicted  of  a  participation  in  the  crime  as 
accessory.  The  Knapps  and  George  Crowninshield  will  be 


WEBSTER 


77 


again  on  the  community.  This  shows  the  importance  of  the 
duty  you  have  to  perform,  and  serves  to  remind  you  of  the  care 
and  wisdom  necessary  to  be  exercised  in  its  performance.  But 
certainly  these  considerations  do  not  render  the  prisoner's  guilt 
any  clearer,  nor  enhance  the  weight  of  the  evidence  against  5 
him.  No  one  desires  you  to  regard  consequences  in  that  light. 
No  one  wishes  anything  to  be  strained,  or  too  far  pressed 
against  the  prisoner.  Still,  it  is  fit  you  should  see  the  full  im 
portance  of  the  duty  which  devolves  upon  you. 

23.  And  now,  Gentlemen,  in  examining  this  evidence,  let  10 
us  begin  at  the  beginning,  and  see  first  what  we  know  inde 
pendent  of  the  disputed  testimony.    This  is  a  case  of  circum 
stantial  evidence.    And  these  circumstances,  we  think,  are  full 
and  satisfactory.    The  case  mainly  depends  upon  them,  and  it 

is  common  that  offenses  of  this  kind  must  be  proved  in  this  15 
way.    Midnight  assassins  take  no  witnesses.    The  evidence  of 
the  facts  relied  on  has  been  somewhat  sneeringly  denominated, 
by  the  learned  counsel,  "  circumstantial  stuff,"  but  it  is  not  such 
stuff  as  dreams  are  made  of.    Why  does  he  not  rend  this  stuff? 
Why  does  he  not  scatter  it  to  the  winds?    He  dismisses  it  a  20 
little  too  summarily.    It  shall  be  my  business  to  examine  this 
stuff,  and  try  its  cohesion. 

24.  The  letter  from  Palmer  at  Belfast,  is  that  no  more  than 
flimsy  stuff?    The  fabricated  letters  from  Knapp  to  the  com 
mittee  and  to  Mr.  White,  are  they  nothing  but   stuff?    The  25 
circumstance,  that  the  housekeeper  was  away  at  the  time  the 
murder  was  committed,  as  it  was  agreed  she  would  be,  is  that, 
too,  a  useless  piece  of  the  same  stuff?    The  facts,  that  the  key 

of  the  chamber  door  was  taken  out  and   secreted,   that  the 
window  was  unbarred  and  unbolted,  —  are  these  to  be  so  lightly  30 
and  so  easily  disposed  of? 

25.  It  is  necessary,  Gentlemen,  to  settle  now,  at  the  com 
mencement,  the  great  question  of  a  conspiracy.    If  there  was 
none,  or  the  defendant  was  not  a  party,  then  there  is  no 


78      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

evidence  here  to  convict  him.  If  there  was  a  conspiracy,  and  he 
is  proved  to  have  been  a  party,  then  these  two  facts  have  a  strong 
bearing  on  others,  and  all  the  great  points  of  inquiry.  The 
defendant's  counsel  take  no  distinct  ground,  as  I  have  already 
5  said,  on  this  point,  either  to  admit  or  to  deny.  They  choose  to 
confine  themselves  to  a  hypothetical  mode  of  speech.  They 
say,  supposing  there  was  a  conspiracy,  non  sequitur  that  the 
prisoner  is  guilty  as  principal.  Be  it  so.  But  still,  if  there 
was  a  conspiracy,  and  if  he  was  a  conspirator,  and  helped  to 

10  plan  the  murder,  this  may  shed  much  light  on  the  evidence 
which  goes  to  charge  him  with  the  execution  of  that  plan. 
We  mean  to  make  out  the  conspiracy  \  and  that  the  defend 
ant  was  a  party  to  it;  and  then  to  draw  all  just  inferences 
from  these  'facts. 

15  26.  Let  me  ask  your  attention,  then,  in  the  first  place,  to 
those  appearances,  on  the  morning  after  the  murder,  which  have 
a  tendency  to  show  that  it  was  done  in  pursuance  of  a  precon 
certed  plan  of  operation.  What  are  they?  A  man  was  found 
murdered  in  his  bed.  No  stranger  had  done  the  deed,  no  one 

20  unacquainted  with  the  house  had  done  it.  It  was  apparent  that 
somebody  within  had  opened,  and  that  somebody  without  had 
entered.  There  had  obviously  and  certainly  been  concert  and 
cooperation.  The  inmates  of  the  house  were  not  alarmed 
when  the  murder  was  perpetrated.  The  assassin  had  entered 

25  without  any  riot  or  any  violence.  He  had  found  the  way  pre 
pared  before  him.  The  house  had  been  previously  opened. 
The  window  was  unbarred  from  within,  and  its  fastening  un 
screwed.  There  was*  a  lock  on  the  door  of  the  chamber  in 
which  Mr.  White  slept,  but  the  key  was  gone.  It  had  been 

30  taken  away  and  secreted.  The  footsteps  of  the  murderer  were 
visible,  outdoors,  tending  toward  the  window.  The  plank  by 
which  he  entered  the  window  still  remained.  The  road  he  pur 
sued  had  been  thus  prepared  for  him.  The  victim  was  slain, 
and  the  murderer  had  escaped.  Everything  indicated  that 


WEBSTER  79 

somebody  within  had  cooperated  with  somebody  without. 
Everything  proclaimed  that  some  of  the  inmates,  or  somebody 
having  access  to  the  house,  had  had  a  hand  in  the  murder.  On 
the  face  of  the  circumstances,  it  was  apparent,  therefore,  that 
this  was  a  premeditated,  concerted  murder;  that  there  had  5 
been  a  conspiracy  to  commit  it.  Who,  then,  were  the  con 
spirators?  If  not  now  found  out,  we  are  still  groping  in  the 
dark,  and  the  whole  tragedy  is  still  a  mystery. 

27.  If  the  Knapps  and  the  Crowninshields  were  not  the 
conspirators  in  this  murder,  then  there  is  a  whole  set  of  con-  10 
spirators  not  yet  discovered.    Because,  independent  of  the  tes 
timony  of  Palmer  and  Leighton,  independent  of  all  disputed 
evidence,  we  know,  from  uncontroverted  facts,  that  this  murder 
was,  and  must  have  been,  the  result  of  concert  and  cooperation 
between  two  or  more.    We  know  it  was  not  done  without  plan  15 
and  deliberation;  we  see  that  whoever  entered  the  house,  to 
strike  the  blow,  was  favored  and  aided  by  some  one  who  had 
been  previously  in  the  house,  without  suspicion,  and  who  had 
prepared  the  way.    This  is  concert,  this  is  cooperation,  this 

Ms  conspiracy.    If  the  Knapps  and  the  Crowninshields,  then,  20 
were  not  the  conspirators,  who  were?    Joseph  Knapp  had  a 
motive  to  desire  the  death  of  Mr.  White,  and  that  motive  has 
been  shown. 

28.  He  was  connected  by  marriage  with  the  family  of  Mr. 
White.    His  wife  was  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Beckford,  who  was  25 
the  only  child  of  a  sister  of  the  deceased.    The  deceased  was 
more  than  eighty  years  old,  and  had  no  children.    His  only 
heirs  were  nephews  and  nieces.    He  was  supposed  to  be  pos 
sessed  of  a  very  large  fortune,  which  would  have  descended, 
by  law,  to  his  several  nephews  and  nieces  in  equal  shares ;  or,  30 
if  there  was  a  will,  then  .according  to  the  will.    But  as  he  had 
but  two  branches  of  heirs,  the  children  of  his  brother,  Henry 
White,  and  of  Mrs.  Beckford,  each  of  these  branches,  according 

to  the  common  idea,  would  have  shared  one  half  of  his  property. 


8O     THE    MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

29.  This  popular  idea  is  not  legally  correct.  But  it  is  com 
mon,  and  very  probably  was  entertained  by  the  parties.  Accord 
ing  to  this  idea,  Mrs.  Beckford,  on  Mr.  White's  death  without  a 
will,  would  have  been  entitled  to  one  half  of  his  ample  fortune ; 
5  and  Joseph  Knapp  had  married  one  of  her  three  children.  There 
was  a  will,  and  this  will  gave  the  bulk  of  the  property  to  others ; 
and  we  learn  from  Palmer  that  one  part  of  the  design  was  to 
destroy  the  will  before  the  murder  was  committed.  There  had 
been  a  previous  will,  and  that  previous  will  was  known  or  be- 

10  lieved  to  have  been  more  favorable  than  the  other  to  the  Beck- 
ford  family.  So  that,  by  destroying  the  last  will,  and  destroying 
the  life  of  the  testator  at  the  same  time,  either  the  first  and 
more  favorable  will  would  be  set  up,  or  the  deceased  would 
have  no  will,  which  would  be,  as  was  supposed,  still  more  fa- 

15  vorable.  But  the  conspirators  not  having  succeeded  in  obtain 
ing  and  destroying  the  last  will,  though  they  accomplished  the 
murder,  that  will  being  found  in  existence  and  safe,  and  that 
will  bequeathing  the  mass  of  the  property  to  others,  it  seemed 
at  the  time  impossible  for  Joseph  Knapp,  as  for  any  one  else, 

20  indeed,  but  the  principal  devisee,  to  have  any  motive  which' 
should  lead  to  the  murder.    The  key  which  unlocks  the  whole 
mystery  is  the  knowledge  of  the  intention  of  the  conspirators 
to  steal  the  will.    This  is  derived  from  Palmer,  and  it  explains 
all.    It  solves  the  whole  marvel.    It  shows  the  motive  which 

25  actuated  those  against  whom  there  is  much  evidence,  but 
who,  without  the  knowledge  of  this  intention,  were  not  seen 
to  have  had  a  motive.  This  intention  is  proved,  as  I  have 
said,  by  Palmer  ;  and  it  is  so  congruous  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
case,  it  agrees  so  well  with  all  facts  and  circumstances,  that  no 

30  man  could  well  withhold  his  belief,  though  the  facts  were  stated 
by  a  still  less  credible  witness.  If  on,e  desirous  of  opening  a 
lock  turns  over  and  tries  a  bunch  of  keys  till  he  finds  one  that 
will  open  it,  he  naturally  supposes  he  has  found  the  key  of  that 
lock.  So,  in  explaining  circumstances  of  evidence  which  are 


WEBSTER  8l 

apparently  irreconcilable  or  unaccountable,  if  a  fact  be  sug 
gested  which  at  once  accounts  for  all,  and  reconciles  all,  by 
whomsoever  it  may  be  stated,  it  is  still  difficult  not  to  believe 
that  such  fact  is  the  true  fact  belonging  to  the  case.  In  this 
respect,  Palmer's  testimony  is  singularly  confirmed.  If  it  were  5 
false,  his  ingenuity  could  not  furnish  us  such  clear  exposition 
of  strange-appearing  circumstances.  Some  truth  not  before 
known  can  alone  do  that. 

30.  When  we  look  back,  then,  to  the  state  of  things  imme 
diately  on  the  discovery  of  the  murder,  we  see  that  suspicion  10 
would  naturally  turn  at  once,  not  to  the  heirs  at  law,  but  to  those 
principally  benefited  by  the  will.    They,  and  they  alone,  would 
be  supposed  or  seem  to  have  a  direct  object  for  wishing  Mr. 
White's  life  to  be  terminated.    And,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
we  find  counsel  now  insisting  that,  if  no  apology,  it  is  yet  15 
mitigation  of  the  atrocity  of  the  Knapps'  conduct  in  attempt 
ing  to  charge  this  foul  murder  on  Mr.  White,  the  nephew  and 
principal  devisee,  that  public  suspicion  was  already  so  directed  ! 
As  if  assassination  of  character  were  excusable  in  proportion 

as  circumstances  may  render  it  easy.    Their  endeavors,  when  20 
they  knew  they  were  suspected  themselves,  to  fix  the  charge 
on  others,  by  foul  means  and  by  falsehood,  are  fair  and  strong 
proof  of  their  own  guilt.    But  more  of  that  hereafter. 

31.  The    counsel    say   that   they   might    safely  admit  that 
Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  was  the  perpetrator  of  this  mur-  25 
der.    But  how  could  they  safely  admit  that?    If  that  were  ad 
mitted,  everything  else  would  follow.    For  why  should  Richard 
Crowninshield,  Jr.,  kill  Mr.  White?    He  was  not  his  heir,  nor 
his    devisee ;    nor   was    he   his    enemy.    What   could    be    his 
motive?    If  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  killed  Mr.  White,  he  30 
did  it  at  some  one's  procurement  who  himself  had  a  motive. 
And  who,  having  any  motive,  is  shown  to  have  had  any  inter 
course  with  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  but  Joseph  Knapp,  and 
this  principally  through  the  agency  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar? 


82      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

It  is  the  infirmity,  the  distressing  difficulty  of  the  prisoner's 
case,  that  his  counsel  cannot  and  dare  not  admit  what  they 
yet  cannot  disprove,  and  what  all  must  believe.  He  who  be 
lieves,  on  this  evidence,  that  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  was 
5  the  immediate  murderer,  cannot  doubt  that  both  the  Knapps 
were  conspirators  in  that  murder.  The  counsel,  therefore,  are 
wrong,  I  think,  in  saying  they  might  safely  admit  this.  The 
admission  of  so  important  and  so  connected  a  fact  would  render 
it  impossible  to  contend  further  against  the  proof  of  the  entire 

10  conspiracy,  as  we  state  it. 

32.  What,  then,  was  this  conspiracy?  Joseph  Knapp,  desir 
ous  of  destroying  the  will,  and  of  taking  the  life  of  the  de 
ceased,  hired  a  ruffian,  who,  with  the  aid  of  other  ruffians,  was 
to  enter  the  house  and  murder  him  in  his  bed. 

15  33.  As  far  back  as  January  this  conspiracy  began.  Endicott 
testifies  to  a  conversation  with  Joseph  Knapp  at  that  time,  in 
which  Knapp  told  him  that  Captain  White  had  made  a  will, 
and  given  the  principal  part  of  his  property  to  Stephen  White. 
When  asked  how  he  knew,  he  said,  "  Black  and  white  don't 

20  lie."  When  asked  if  the  will  was  not  locked  up,  he  said, 
"There  is  such  a  thing  as  two  keys  to  the  same  lock."  And 
speaking  of  the  then  late  illness  of  Captain  White,  he  said 
that  Stephen  White  would  not  have  been  sent  for  if  he  had 
been  there. 

25  34.  Hence  it  appears  that  as  early  as  January  Knapp  had  a 
knowledge  of  the  will,  and  that  he  had  access  to  it  by  means 
of  false  keys.  This  knowledge  of  the  will,  and  an  intent  to 
destroy  it,  appear  also  from  Palmer's  testimony,  a  fact  dis 
closed  to  him  by  the  other  conspirators.  He  says  that  he  was 

30  informed  of  this  by  the  Crowninshields  on  the  2d  of  April. 
But  then  it  is  said  that  Palmer  is  not  to  be  credited ;  that  by 
his  own  confession  he  is  a  felon ;  that  he  has  been  in  the  State 
prison  in  Maine;  and,  above  all,, that  he  was  intimately  as 
sociated  with  these  conspirators  themselves.  Let  us  admit 


WEBSTER  83 

these  facts.  Let  us  admit  him  to  be  as  bad  as  they  would  rep 
resent  him  to  be  ;  still,  in  law,  he  is  a  competent  witness.  How 
else  are  the  secret  designs  of  the  wicked  to  be  proved,  but  by 
their  wicked  companions,  to  whom  they  have  disclosed  them? 
The  government  does  not  select  its  witnesses.  The  conspira-  5 
tors  themselves  have  chosen  Palmer.  He  was  the  confidant  of 
the  prisoners.  The  fact,  however,  does  not  depend  on  his  testi 
mony  alone.  It  is  corroborated  by  other  proof  \  and,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  other  circumstances,  it  has  strong  proba 
bility.  In  regard  to  the  testimony  of  Palmer,  generally,  it  may  10 
be  said  that  it  is  less  contradicted,  in  all  parts  of  it,  either  by 
himself  or  others,  than  that  of  any  other  material  witness,  and 
that  everything  he  has  told  is  corroborated  by  other  evidence, 
so  far  as  it  is  susceptible  of  confirmation.  An  attempt  has 
been  made  to  impair  his  testimony,  as  to  his  being  at  the  Half-  15 
way  House  on  the  night  of  the  murder ;  you  have  seen  with 
what  success.  Mr.  Babb  is  called  to  contradict  him.  You 
have  seen  how  little  he  knows,  and  even  that  not  certainly ; 
for  he  himself  is  proved  to  have  been  in  an  error  by  supposing 
Palmer  to  have  been  at  the  Halfway  House  on  the  evening  of  20 
the  9th  of  April.  At  that  time  he  is  proved  to  have  been  at 
Dustin's  in  Danvers.  If,  then,  Palmer,  bad  as  he  is,  has  dis 
closed  the  secrets  of  the  conspiracy,  and  has  told  the  truth, 
there  is'  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  believed.  Truth  is 
truth,  come  whence  it  may.  25 

35.  The  facts  show  that  this  murder  had  been  long  in  agita 
tion  ;  that  it  was  not  a  new  proposition  on  the  2d  of  April ; 
that  it  had  been  contemplated  for  five  or  six  weeks.  Richard 
Crowninshield  was  at  Wenham  in  the  latter  part  of  March,  as 
testified  by  Starrett.  Frank  Knapp  was  at  Danvers  in  the  latter  30 
part  of  February,  as  testified  by  Allen.  Richard  Crowninshield 
inquired  whether  Captain  Knapp  was  about  home,  when  at 
Wenham.  The  probability  is,  that  they  would  open  the  case 
to  Palmer  as  a  new  project.  There  are  other  circumstances 


84      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

that  show  it  to  have  been  some  weeks  in  agitation.  Palmer's 
testimony  as  to  the  transaction  on  the  2d  of  April  is  corrob 
orated  by  Allen,  and  by  Osborn's  books.  He  says  that  Frank 
Knapp  came  there  in  the  afternoon,  and  again  in  the  evening. 
5  So  the  book  shows.  He  says  that  Captain  White  had  gone  out 
to  his  farm  on  that  day.  So  others  prove.  How  could  this 
fact,  or  these  facts,  have  been  known  to  Palmer,  unless  Frank 
Knapp  had  brought  the  knowledge?  And  was  it  not  the  spe 
cial  object  of  this  visit  to  give  information  of  this  fact,  that  they 

10  might  meet  him  and  execute  their  purpose  on  his  return  from 
his  farm?  The  letter  of  Palmer,  written  at  Belfast,  bears  in 
trinsic  marks  of  genuineness.  It  was  mailed  at  Belfast,  May 
1 3th.  It  states  facts  that  he  could  not  have  known,  unless  his 
testimony  be  true.  This  letter  was  not  an  after-thought ;  it  is 

15  a  genuine  narrative.  In  fact,  it  says,  "I  know  the  business 
your  brother  Frank  was  transacting  on  the  2d  of  April."  How 
could  he  have  possibly  known  this,  unless  he  had  been  there? 
The  "one  thousand  dollars  that  was  to  be  paid," — where 
could  he  have  obtained  this  knowledge?  The  testimony  of 

20  Endicott,  of  Palmer,  and  these  facts,  are  to  be  taken  together ; 
and  they  most  clearly  show  that  the  death  of  Captain  White  was 
caused  by  somebody  interested  in  putting  an  end  to  his  life. 

36.  As  to  the  testimony  of  Leigh  ton,  as  far  as  manner  of 
testifying  goes,  he  is  a  bad  witness ;  but  it  does  not  follow  from 

25  this  that  he  is  not  to  be  believed.  There  are  some  strange 
things  about  him.  It  is  strange  that  he  should  make  up  a 
story  against  Captain  Knapp,  the  person  with  whom  he  lived ; 
that  he  never  voluntarily  told  anything :  all  that  he  has  said 
was  screwed  out  of  him.  But  the  story  could  not  have  been 

30  invented  by  him ;  his  character  for  truth  is  unimpeached ;  and 
he  intimated  to  another  witness,  soon  after  the  murder  hap 
pened,  that  he  knew  something  he  should  not  tell.  There  is 
not  the  least  contradiction  in  his  testimony,  though  he  gives  a 
poor  account  of  withholding  it.  He  says  that  he  was  extremely 


WEBSTER  85 

bothered  by  those  who  questioned  him.  In  the  main  story  that 
he  relates,  he  is  entirely  consistent  with  himself.  Some  things 
are  for  him,  and  some  against  him.  Examine  the  intrinsic 
probability  of  what  he  says.  See  if  some  allowance  is  not  to 
be  made  for  him  on  account  of  his  ignorance  of  things  of  this  5 
kind.  It  is  said  to  be  extraordinary  that  he  should  have  heard 
just  so  much  of  the  conversation,  and  no  more ;  that  he  should 
have  heard  just  what  was  necessary  to  be  proved,  and  nothing 
else.  Admit  that  this  is  extraordinary;  still,  this  does  not 
prove  it  untrue.  It  is  extraordinary  that  you  twelve  gentle-  10 
men  should  be  called  upon,  out  of  all  the  men  in  the  county, 
to  decide  this  case ;  no  one  could  have  foretold  this  three 
weeks  since.  It  is  extraordinary  that  the  first  clew  to  this  con 
spiracy  should  have  been  derived  from  information  given  by 
the  father  of  the  prisoner  at  bar.  And  in  every  case  that  comes  15 
to  trial  there  are  many  things  extraordinary.  The  murder 
itself  is  a  most  extraordinary  one ;  but  still  we  do  not  doubt 
its  reality. 

37.  It  is  argued  that  this  conversation  between  Joseph  and 
Frank  could  not  have  been  as  Leighton  has  testified,  because  20 
they  had  been  together  for  several  hours  before ;  this  subject 
must  have  been  uppermost  in  their  minds,  whereas  this  appears 
to  have  been  the  commencement  of  their  conversation  upon  it. 
Now  this  depends  altogether  upon  the  tone  and  manner  of  the 
expression ;  upon  the  particular  word  in  the  sentence  which  25 
was  emphatically  spoken.  If  he  had  said,  "  When  did  you  see 
Dick,  Frank?  "  this  would  not  seem  to  be  the  beginning  of  the 
conversation.  With  what  emphasis  it  was  uttered,  it  is  not 
possible  to  learn ;  and  therefore  nothing  can  be  made  of  this 
argument.  If  this  boy's  testimony  stood  alone,  it  should  be  30 
received  with  caution.  And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  testi 
mony  of  Palmer.  But  they  do  not  stand  alone.  They  furnish 
a  clew  to  numerous  other  circumstances,  which,  when  known, 
mutually  confirm  what  would  have  been  received  with  caution 


86     THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

without  such  corroboration.  How  could  Leighton  have  made 
up  this  conversation?  "  When  did  you  see  Dick?"  "I  saw 
him  this  morning."  "  When  is  he  going  to  kill  the  old  man?  " 
"  I  don't  know."  "  Tell  him,  if  he  don't  do  it  soon,  I  won't 
5  pay  him."  Here  is  a  vast  amount  in  few  words.  Had  he  wit 
enough  to  invent  this  ?  There  is  nothing  so  powerful  as  truth ; 
and  often  nothing  so  strange.  '  It  is  not  even  suggested  that 
the  story  was  made  for  him.  There  is  nothing  so  extraordinary 
in  the  whole  matter  as  it  would  have  been  for  this  ignorant 

10  country  boy  to  invent  this  story. 

38.  The  acts  of  the  parties  themselves  furnish  strong  pre 
sumption  of  their  guilt.  What  was  done  on  the  receipt  of  the 
letter  from  Maine  ?  This  letter  was  signed  by  Charles  Grant, 
Jr.,  a  person  not  known  to  either  of  the  Knapps,  nor  was  it 

1 5  known  to  them  that  any  other  person  beside  the  Crowninshields 
knew  of  the  conspiracy.  This  letter  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
father,  when  intended  for  the  son.  The  father  carried  it  to 
Wenham,  where  both  the  sons  were.  They  both  read  it.  Fix 
your  eye  steadily  on  this  part  of  the  circumstantial  stuff  which 

20  is  in  the  case,  and  see  what  can  be  made  of  it.  This  was 
shown  to  the  two  brothers  on  Saturday,  the  i5th  of  May. 
Neither  of  them  knew  Palmer.  And  if  they  had  known  him, 
they  could  not  have  known  him  to  have  been  the  writer  of 
this  letter.  It  was  mysterious  to  them  how  any  one  at  Belfast 

25  could  have  had  knowledge  of  this  affair.  Their  conscious  guilt 
prevented  due  circumspection.  They  did  not  see  the  bearing 
of  its  publication.  They  advised  their  father  to  carry  it  to  the 
Committee  of  Vigilance,  and  it  was  so  carried.  On  the  Sunday 
following,  Joseph  began  to  think  there  might  be  something  in 

30  it.  Perhaps,  in  the  meantime,  he  had  seen  one  of  the  Crownin 
shields.  He  was  apprehensive  that  they  might  be  suspected  ;  he 
was  anxious  to  turn  attention  from  their  family.  What  course 
did  he  adopt  to  effect  this?  He  addressed  one  letter,  with 
a  false  name,  to  Mr.  White,  and  another  to  the  Committee ; 


WEBSTER  87 

and  to  complete  the  climax  of  his  folly,  he  signed  the  let 
ter  addressed  to  the  Committee,  "Grant,"  the  same  name  as 
that  which  was  signed  to  the  letter  received  from  Belfast.  It 
was  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Committee,  that  no  person  but 
the  Knapps  had  seen  this  letter  from  Belfast;  and  that  no  5 
other  person  knew  its  signature.  It  therefore  must  have  been 
irresistibly  plain  to  them  that  one  of  the  Knapps  was  the  writer 
of  the  letter  received  by  the  Committee,  charging  the  murder 
on  Mr-  White.  Add  to  this  the  fact  of  its  having  been  dated 
at  Lynn,  and  mailed  at  Salem  four  days  after  it  was  dated,  and  10 
who  could  doubt  respecting  it?  Have  you  ever  known  or  read 
of  folly  equal  to  this  ?  Can  you  conceive  of  crime  more  odious 
and  abominable  ?  Merely  to  explain  the  apparent  mysteries  of 
the  letter  from  Palmer,  they  excite  the  basest  suspicions  against 
a  man,  whom,  if  they  were  innocent,  they  had  no  reason  to  15 
believe  guilty ;  and  whom,  if  they  were  guilty,  they  most  cer 
tainly  knew  to  be  innocent.  Could  they  have  adopted  a  more 
direct  method  of  exposing  their  own  infamy?  The  letter  to 
the  Committee  has  intrinsic  marks  of  a  knowledge  of  this  trans 
action.  It  tells  the  time  and  the  manner  in  which  the  murder  20 
was  committed.  Every  line  speaks  the  writer's  condemnation. 
In  attempting  to  divert  attention  from  his  family,  and  to  charge 
the  guilt  upon  another,  he  indelibly  fixes  it  upon  himself. 

39.  Joseph  Knapp  requested  Allen  to  put  these  letters  into 
the  post  office,  because,  said  he,  "  I  wish  to  nip  this  silly  affair  25 
in  the  bud."  If  this  were  not  the  order  of  an  overruling  Prov 
idence,  I  should  say  that  it  was  the  silliest  piece  of  folly  that 
was  ever  practiced.  Mark  the  destiny  of  crime.  It  is  ever 
obliged  to  resort  to  such  subterfuges ;  it  trembles  in  the  broad 
light ;  it  betrays  itself  in  seeking  concealment.  He  alone  walks  30 
safely  who  walks  uprightly.  Who  for  a  moment  can  read  these 
letters  and  doubt  of  Joseph  Knapp's  guilt  ?  The  constitution  of 
nature  is  made  to  inform  against  him.  There  is  no  corner  dark 
enough  to  conceal  him.  There  is  no  turnpike  road  broad  enough 


88      THE   MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

or  smooth  enough  for  a  man  so  guilty  to  walk  in  without  stum 
bling.  Every  step  proclaims  his  secret  to  every  passenger.  His 
own  acts  come  out  to  fix  his  guilt.  In  attempting  to  charge 
another  with  his  own  crime,  he  writes  his  own  confession.  To 
5  do  away  the  effect  of  Palmer's  letter,  signed  Grant,  he  writes 
a  letter  himself  and  affixes  to  it  the  name  of  Grant.  He  writes 
in  a  disguised  hand ;  but  how  could  it  happen  that  the  same 
Grant  should  be  in  Salem  that  was  at  Belfast  ?  This  has  brought 
the  whole  thing  out.  Evidently  he  did  it,  because  he  has 
10  adopted  the  same  style.  Evidently  he  did  it,  because  he  speaks 
of  the  price  of  blood,  and  of  other  circumstances  connected 
with  the  murder,  that  no  one  but  a  conspirator  could  have 
known. 

40.  Palmer  says  he  made  a  visit  to  the  Crowninshields  on 
15  the  Qth  of  April.    George  then  asked  him  whether  he  had  heard 

of  the  murder.  Richard  inquired  whether  he  had  heard  the 
music  at  Salem.  They  said  that  they  were  suspected ;  that  a 
committee  had  been  appointed  to  search  houses  ;  and  that  they 
had  melted  up  the  dagger  the  day  after  the  murder,  because  it 

20  would  be  a  suspicious  circumstance  to  have  it  found  in  their 
possession.  Now  this  committee  was  not  appointed,  in  fact, 
until  Friday  evening.  But  this  proves  nothing  against  Palmer ; 
it  does  not  prove  that  George  did  not  tell  him  so ;  it  only 
proves  that  he  gave  a  false  reason  for  a  fact.  They  had  heard 

25  that  they  were  suspected ;  how  could  they  have  heard  this, 
unless  it  were  from  the  whisperings  of  their  own  consciences  ? 
Surely  this  rumor  was  not  then  public. 

41.  About  the  2yth  of  April,  another  attempt  was  made  by 
the  Knapps  to  give  a  direction  to  public  suspicion.    They  re- 

30  ported  themselves  to  have  been  robbed,  in  passing  from  Salem 
to  Wenham,  near  Wenham  Pond.  They  came  to  Salem  and 
stated  the  particulars  of  the  adventure.  They  described  persons, 
their  dress,  size,  and  appearance,  who  had  been  suspected  of  the 
murder.  They  would  have  it  understood  that  the  community 


WEBSTER  89 

was  infested  by  a  band  of  ruffians,  and  that  they  themselves 
were  the  particular  objects  of  their  vengeance..  Now  this 
turns  out  to  be  all  fictitious,  all  false.  Can  you  conceive  of 
anything  more  enormous,  any  wickedness  greater,  than  the  cir 
culation  of  such  reports?  than  the  allegation  of  crimes,  if  com-  5 
mitted,  capital?  If  no  such  crime  had  been  committed,  then 
it  reacts  with  double  force  upon  themselves,  and  goes  very  far 
to  show  their  guilt.  How  did  they  conduct  themselves  on  this 
occasion?  Did  they  make  hue  and  cry?  Did  they  give  in 
formation  that  they  had  been  assaulted  that  night  at  Wenham?  10 
No  such  thing.  They  rested  quietly  that  night ;  they  waited  to 
be  called  on  for  the  particulars  of  their  adventure ;  they  made 
no  attempt  to  arrest  the  offenders;  this  was  not  their  object. 
They  were  content  to  fill  the  thousand  mouths  of  rumor,  to 
spread  abroad  false  reports,  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  pub-  1 5 
lie  from  themselves;  for  they  thought  every  man  suspected 
them,  because  they  knew  they  ought  to  be  suspected. 

42.  The  manner  in  which  the  compensation  for  this  murder 
was  paid  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  consideration.  By  exam 
ining  the  facts  and  dates,  it  will  satisfactorily  appear  that  Joseph  20 
Knapp  paid  a  sum  of  money  to  Richard  Crowninshield,  in  five- 
franc  pieces,  on  the  24th  of  April.  On  the  2  ist  of  April,  Joseph 
Knapp  received  five  hundred  five-franc  pieces  as  the  proceeds 
of  an  adventure  at  sea.  The  remainder  of  this  species  of  cur 
rency  that  came  home  in  the  vessel  was  deposited  in  a  bank  25 
at  Salem.  On  Saturday,  the  24th  of  April,  Frank  and  Richard 
rode  to  'Wenham.  They  were  there  with  Joseph  an  hour  or 
more,  and  appeared  to  be  negotiating  private  business.  Richard 
continued  in  the  chaise ;  Joseph  came  to  the  chaise  and  con 
versed  with  him.  These  facts  are  proved  by  Hart  and  Leigh-  30 
ton,  and  by  Osborn's  books.  On  Saturday  evening,  about  this 
time,  Richard  Crowninshield  is  proved,  by  Lummus,  to  have 
been  at  Wenham,  with  another  person  whose  appearance  cor 
responds  with  Frank's.  Can  any  one  doubt  this  being  the  same 


90     THE   MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

evening?  What  had  Richard  Crowninshield  to  do  at  Wenham, 
with  Joseph,  unless  it  were  this  business  ?  He  was  there  before 
the  murder;  he  was  there  after  the  murder;  he  was  there 
clandestinely,  unwilling  to  be  seen.  If  it  were  not  upon  this 
5  business,  let  it  be  told  what  it  was  for.  Joseph  Knapp  could 
explain  it ;  Frank  Knapp  might  explain  it.  But  they  do  not 
explain  it ;  and  the  inference  is  against  them. 

43.  Immediately  after  this,  Richard  passes  five-franc  pieces  ; 
on  the  same  evening,  one  to  Lummus,  five  to  Palmer  ;  and  near 

10  this  time  George  passes  three  or  four  in  Salem.  Here  are  nine 
of  these  pieces  passed  by  them  in  four  days ;  this  is  extraor 
dinary.  It  is  an  unusual  currency ;  in  ordinary  business,  few 
men  would  pass  nine  such  pieces  in  the  course  of  a  year.  If  they 
were  not  received  in  this  way,  why  not  explain  how  they  came 

15  by  them?  Money  was  not  so  flush  in  their  pockets  that  they 
could  not  tell  whence  it  came,  if  it  honestly  came  there.  It  is 
extremely  important  to  them  to  explain  whence  this  money 
came,  and  they  would  do  it  if  they  could.  If,  then,  the  price 
of  blood  was  paid  at  this  time,  in  the  presence  and  with  the 

20  knowledge  of  this  defendant,  does  not  this  prove  him  to  have 
been  connected  with  this  conspiracy? 

44.  Observe,  also,  the  effect  on  the  mind  of  Richard  of 
Palmer's  being  arrested  and  committed  to  prison ;  the  various 
efforts  he  makes  to  discover  the  fact ;  the  lowering,  through 

25  the  crevices  of  the  rock,  the  pencil  and  paper  for  him  to 
write  upon ;  the  sending  two  lines  of  poetry,  with  the  request 
that  he  would  return  the  corresponding  lines ;  the  shrill  and 
peculiar  whistle ;  the  inimitable  exclamations  of  "  Palmer ! 
Palmer  !  Palmer !  "  All  these  things  prove  how  great  was 

30  his  alarm ;  they  corroborate  Palmer's  story,  and  tend  to  estab 
lish  the  conspiracy. 

45.  Joseph  Knapp  had  a  part  to  act  in  this  matter.    He 
must  have  opened  the  window,  and  secreted  the  key ;  he  had 
free  access  to  every  part  of  the  house ;  he  was  accustomed  to 


WEBSTER  9! 

visit  there ;  he  went  in  and  out  at  his  pleasure ;  he  could  do 
this  without  being  suspected.  He  is  proved  to  have  been  there 
the  Saturday  preceding. 

46.  If  all  these  things,  taken  in  connection,  do  not  prove 
that  Captain  White  was  murdered  in  pursuance  of  a  conspir-    5 
acy,  then  the  case  is  at  an  end. 

47.  Savary's  testimony  is  wholly  unexpected.    He  was  called 
for  a  different  purpose.    When  asked  who  the  person  was  that 
he  saw  come  out  of  Captain  White's  yard  between  three  and 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  answered,  Frank  Knapp.    It  is  10 
not  clear  that  this  is  not  true.    There  may  be  many  circum 
stances  of  importance  connected  with  this,  though  we  believe 
the  murder  to  have  been  committed  between  ten  and  eleven 
o'clock.    The  letter  to  Dr.  Barstow  states  it  to  have  been  done 
about  eleven  o'clock ;  it  states  it  to  have  been  done  with  a  15 
blow  on  the  head,  from  a  weapon  loaded  with  lead.    Here  is 
too  great  a  correspondence  with  the  reality  not  to  have  some 
meaning  in  it.    Dr.  Pierson  was  always  of  the  opinion  that  the 
two  classes  of  wounds  were  made  with  different  instruments, 
and  by  different  hands.    It  is  possible  that  one  class  was  in-  20 
flicted  at  one  time,  and  the  other  at  another.    It  is  possible 
that  on  the  last  visit  the  pulse  might  not  have  entirely  ceased 

to  beat,  and  then  the  finishing  stroke  was  given.    It  is  said 
that  when  the  body  was  discovered,  some  of  the  wounds  wept, 
while  the  others'  did  not.    They  may  nave  been  inflicted  from  25 
mere  wantonness.    It  was  known  that  Captain  White  was  ac 
customed  to  keep  specie  by  him  in  his  chamber ;  this  perhaps 
may  explain  the  last  visit.    It  is  proved  that  this  defendant  was 
in  the  habit  of  retiring  to  bed,  and  leaving  it  afterwards,  with 
out  the  knowledge  of  his  family;  perhaps  he  did  so  on  this  occa-  30 
sion.    We  see  no  reason  to  doubt  the  fact ;  and  it  does  not  shake 
pur  belief  that  the  murder  was  committed  early  in  the  night. 

48.  What  are  the  probabilities  as  to  the  time  of  the  murder? 
Mr.  White  was  an  aged  man  ;  he  usually  retired  to  bed  at  about 


92      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

half-past  nine.    He  slept  soundest  in  the  early  part  of  the 

.     night;  usually  awoke  in  the  middle  and  latter  part;  and  his 

habits  were  perfectly  well  known.    When  would  persons,  with  a 

knowledge  of  these  facts,  be  most  likely  to  approach  him? 

5  Most  certainly,  in  the  first  hour  of  his  sleep.    This  would  be 

the  safest  time.    If  seen  then  going  to  and  from  the  house,  the 

appearance  would  be  least  suspicious.    The  earlier  hour  would 

then  have  been  most  probably  selected. 

49.  Gentlemen,  I  shall  dwell  no  longer  on  the  evidence 
10  which  tends  to  prove  that  there  was  a  conspiracy,  and  that  the 

prisoner  was  a  conspirator.  All  the  circumstances  concur  to 
make  out  this  point.  Not  only  Palmer  swears  to  it,  in  effect, 
and  Leighton,  but  Allen  mainly  supports  Palmer,  and  Osborn's 
books  lend  confirmation,  so  far  as  possible,  from  such  a  source. 

15  Palmer  is  contradicted  in  nothing,  either  by  any  other  witness, 
or  any  proved  circumstance  or  occurrence.    Whatever  could- 
be  expected  to  support  him  does  support  him.    All  the  evi 
dence  clearly  manifests,  I  think,  that  there  was  a  conspiracy ; 
that  it  originated  with  Joseph  Knapp ;  that  defendant  became 

20  a  party  to  it,  and  was  one  of  its  conductors,  from  first  to  last. 
One  of  the  most  powerful  circumstances  is  Palmer's  letter  from 
Belfast.  The  amount  of  this  is  a  direct  charge  on  the  Knapps 
of  the  authorship  of  this  murder.  How  did  they  treat  this 
charge;  like  honest  men,  or  like  guilty  men?  We  have  seen 

25  how  it  was  treated.  Joseph  Knapp  fabricated  letters,  charging 
another  person,  and  caused  them  to  be  put  into  the  post  office. 

50.  I  shall  now  proceed  on  the  supposition  that  it  is  proved 
that  there  was  a  conspiracy  to  murder  Mr.  White,  and  that  the 
prisoner  was  party  to  it. 

30  51.  The  second  and  the  material  inquiry  is,  Was  the  prisoner 
present  at  the  murder,  aiding  and  abetting  therein? 

5  2 .  This  leads  to  the  legal  question  in  the  case.  What  does  the 
law  mean  when  it  says  that,  in  order  to  charge  him  as  a  princi 
pal,  "  he  must  be  present  aiding  and  abetting  in  the  murder"? 


WEBSTER  93 

53.  In  the  language  of  the  late  Chief  Justice,  "  It  is  not  re 
quired  that  the  abettor  shall  be  actually  upon  the  spot  when 
the  murder  is  committed,  or  even  in  sight  of  the  more  immedi 
ate  perpetrator  or  of  the  victim,  to  make  him  a  principal.    If  he 
be  at  a  distance,  cooperating  in  the  act,  by  watching  to  pre-    5 
vent  relief,  or  to  give  an  alarm,  or  to  assist  his  confederate  in 
escape,  having  knowledge  of  the  purpose  and  object  of  the 
assassin,  this  in  the  eye  of  the  law  is  being  present,  aiding  and 
abetting,  so  as  to  make  him  a  principal  in  the  murder." 

54.  "  If  he  be  at  a  distance  cooperating."    This  is  not  a  dis-  10 
tance  to  be  measured  by  feet  or  rods ;  if  the  intent  to  lend  aid 
combine  with  a  knowledge  that  the  murder  is  to  be  committed, 
and  the  person  so  intending  be-  so  situate  that  he  can  by  any 
possibility  lend  this  aid  in  any  manner,  then  he  is  present  in 
legal  contemplation.    He  need  not  lend  any  actual  aid ;  to  be  15 
ready  to  assist  is  assisting. 

55.  There  are  two  sorts  of  murder;  the  distinction  between 
them  it  is  of  essential  importance  to  bear  in  mind :  i .  Murder 
in  an  affray,  or  upon  sudden  and  unexpected  provocation. 

2.  Murder  secretly,  with  a  deliberate,  predetermined  intention  20 
to  commit  the  crime.    Under  the  first  class,  the  question  usu 
ally  is,  whether  the  offense  be  murder  or  manslaughter^  in  the 
person  who  commits  the  deed.    Under  the  second  class,  it  is 
often  a  question  whether  others  than  he  who  actually  did  the 
deed  were  present,  aiding  and  assisting  therein.    Offenses  of  25 
this  kind  ordinarily  happen  when  there  is  nobody  present  ex 
cept  those  who  go  on  the  same  design.    If  a  riot  should  happen 
in  the  courthouse,  and  one  should  kill  another,  this  may  be 
murder,  or  it  may  not,  according  to  the  intention  with  which 
it  was  done ;  which  is  always  matter  of  fact,  to  be  collected  30 
from  the  circumstances  at  the  time.    But  in  secret  murders, 
premeditated  and  determined  on,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
murderous  intention;  there  can  be  no  doubt,  if  a  person  be 
present,  knowing  a  murder  is  to  be  done,  of  his  concurring  in 


94      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH   WHITE 

the  act.    His  being  there  is  a  proof  of  his  intent  to  aid  and 
abet ;  else,  why  is  he  there  ? 

56.  It  has  been  contended  that  proof  must  be  given  that 
the  person  accused  did  actually  afford  aid,  did  lend  a  hand  in 
5  the  murder  itself ;  and  without  this  proof,  although  he  may  be 
near  by,  he  may  be  presumed  to  be  there  for  an  innocent  pur 
pose;  he  may  have  crept  silently  there  to  hear  the  news,  or 
from  mere  curiosity  to  see  what  was  going  on.    Preposterous, 
absurd  !    Such  an  idea  shocks  all  common  sense.    A  man  Is 
10  found  to  be  a  conspirator  to  commit  a  murder ;  he  has  planned 
it;  he  has  assisted  in  arranging  the  time,  the  place,  and  the 
means ;  and  he  is  found  in  the  place,  and  at  the  time,  and  yet 
it  is  suggested  that  he  might  have  been  there,  not  for  cooper 
ation  and  concurrence,  but  from  curiosity  !    Such  an  argument 
15  deserves  no  answer.    It  would  be  difficult  to  give  it  one,  in 
decorous  terms.    It  is  not  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  a  man 
seeks  to  accomplish  his  own  purposes?  When  he  has  planned  a 
murder,  and  is  present  at  its  execution,  is  he  there  to  forward  or 
to  thwart  his  own  design  ?  is  he  there  to  assist,  or  there  to  pre- 
20  vent?    But  "  curiosity  "  !    He  may  be  there  from  mere  "  curi 
osity"  !    Curiosity  to  witness  the  success  of  the  execution  of 
his  own  plan  of  murder  !    The  very  walls  of  a  courthouse  ought 
not  to  stand,  the  plowshare  should  run  through  the  ground 
it  stands  on,  where  such  an  argument  could  find  toleration. 
25       57.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  abettor  should  actually  lend 
a  hand,  that  he  should  take  a  part  in  the  act  itself;  if  he  be 
present  ready  to  assist,  that  is  assisting.    Some  of  the  doctrines 
advanced  would  acquit  the  defendant,  though  he  had  gone  to 
the  bedchamber  of  the  deceased,  though  he  had  been  standing 
30  by  when  the  assassin  gave  the  blow.    This  is  the  argument  we 
have  heard  to-day. 

58.  No  doubt  the  law  is,  that  being  ready  to  assist  is  assist 
ing,  if  the  party  has  the  power  to  assist,  in  case  of  need.  It  is 
so  stated  by  Foster,  who  is  a  high  authority.  [Reading  the  law 


WEBSTER  95 

from  the  authority  cited.]  The  law  does  not  say  where  the  per 
son  is  to  go,  or  how  near  he  is  to  go,  but  that  he  must  be  where 
he  may  give  assistance,  or  where  the  perpetrator  may  believe 
that  he  may  be  assisted  by  him.  Suppose  that  he  is  acquainted 
with  the  design  of  the  murderer,  and  has  a  knowledge  of  the  5 
time  when  it  is  to  be  carried  into  effect,  and  goes  out  with  a 
view  to  render  assistance,  if  need  be ;  why,  then,  even  though 
the  murderer  does  not  know  of  this,  the  person  so  going  out 
will  be  an  abettor  in  the  murder. 

59.  It  is  contended  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  could  not  10 
be  a  principal,  he  being  in  Brown  Street,  because  he  could  not 
there  render  assistance ;  and  you  are  called  upon  to  determine 
this  case,  according  as  you  may  be  of  opinion  whether  Brown 
Street  was,  or  was  not,  a  suitable,  convenient,  well-chosen  place 
to  aid  in  this  murder.    This  is  not  the  true  question.    The  in-  15 
quiry  is  not  whether  you  would  have  selected  this  place  in  pref 
erence  to  all  others,  or  whether  you  would  have  selected  it  at 
all.    If  the  parties  chose  it,  why  should  we  doubt  about  it? 
How  do  we  know  the  use  they  intended  to  make  of  it,  or  the 
kind  of  aid  that  he  was  to  afford  by  being  there?    The  ques-  20 
tion  for  you  to  consider  is,  Did  the  defendant  go  into  Brown 
Street  in  aid  of  this  murder?    Did  he  go  there  by  agreement, 
by  appointment  with  the  perpetrator?    If  so,  everything  else 
follows.    The  main  thing,  indeed  the  only  thing,  is  to  inquire 
whether  he  was  in  Brown  Street  by  appointment  with  Richard  25 
Crowninshield.    It  might  be  to  keep  general  watch  ;  to  observe 
the  lights,1  and  advise  as  to  time  of  access ;  to  meet  the  mur 
derer  on  his  return,  to  advise  him  as  to  his  escape  ;  to  examine 
his  clothes,  to  see  if  any  marks  of  blood  were  upon  them ;  to 
furnish  exchange  of  clothes,  or  new  disguise,  if  necessary ;  to  30 
tell  him  through  what  streets  he  could  safely  retreat,  or  whether 
he  could  deposit  the  club  in  the  place  designed  ;  or  it  might  be 
without  any  distinct  object,  but  merely  to  afford  that  encour 
agement  which  would  proceed  from  Richard  Crowninshield's 


96     THE   MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

consciousness  that  he  was  near.  It  is  of  no  consequence 
whether,  in  your  opinion,  the  place  was  well  chosen  or  not, 
to  afford  aid ;  if  it  was  so  chosen,  if  it  was  by  appointment 
that  he  was  there,  it  is  enough.  Suppose  Richard  Crownin- 
5  shield,  when  applied  to  to  commit  the  murder,  had  said,  "  I 
won't  do  it  unless  there  can  be  some  one  near  by  to  favor  my 
escape;  I  won't  go  unless  you  will  stay  in  Brown  Street." 
Upon  the  gentleman's  argument,  he  would  not  be  an  aider 
and  abettor  in  the  murder,  because  the  place  was  not  well 
10  chosen ;  though  it  is  apparent  that  the  being  in  the  place 
chosen  was  a  condition,  without  which  the  murder  would  never 
have  happened. 

60.  You  are  to  consider  the  defendant  as  one  in  the  league, 
in  the  combination  to  commit  the  murder.    If  he  was  there  by 

15  appointment  with  the  perpetrator,  he  is  an  abettor.  The  con 
currence  of  the  perpetrator  in  his  being  there  is  proved  by  the 
previous  evidence  of  the  conspiracy.  If  Richard  Crowninshield, 
for  any  purpose  whatsoever,  made  it  a  condition  of  the  agree 
ment  that  Frank  Knapp  should  stand  as  backer,  then  Frank 

20  Knapp  was  an  aider  and  abettor ;  no  matter  what  the  aid  was, 
or  what  sort  it  was,  or  degree,  be  it  ever  so  little ;  even  if  it 
were  to  judge  of  the  hour  when  it  was  best  to  go,  or  to  see  when 
the  lights  were  extinguished,  or  to  give  an  alarm  if  any  one 
approached.  Who  better  calculated  to  judge  of  these  things 

25  than  the  murderer  himself?  and  if  he  so  determined  them, 
that  is  sufficient. 

6 1 .  Now  as  to  the  facts.    Frank  Knapp  knew  that  the  murder 
was  that  night  to  be  committed ;  he  was  one  of  the  conspira 
tors,  he  knew  the  object,  he  knew  the  time.    He  had  that  day 

30  been  to  Wenham  to  see  Joseph,  and  probably  to  Danvers  to 
see  Richard  Crowninshield,  for  he  kept  his  motions  secret. 
He  had  that  day  hired  a  horse  and  chaise  of  Osborn,  and  at 
tempted  to  conceal  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  used ;  he  had 
intentionally  left  the  place  and  the  price  blank  on  Osborn's 


WEBSTER  97 

books.  He  went  to  Wenham  by  the  way  of  Danvers ;  he  had 
been  told  the  week  before  to  hasten  Dick;  he  had  seen  the 
Crowninshields  several  times  within  a  few  days  ;  he  had  a 
saddle  horse  the  Saturday  night  before;  he  had  seen  Mrs. 
Beckford  at  Wenham,  and  knew  she  would  not  return  that  5 
night.  She  had  not  been  away  before  for  six  weeks,  and  prob 
ably  would  not  soon  be  again.  He  had  just  come  from  Wen- 
ham.  Every  day,  for  the  week  previous,  he  had  visited  one 
or  another  of  these  conspirators,  save  Sunday,  and  then  prob 
ably  he  saw  them  in  town.  When  he  saw  Joseph  on  the  6th,  10 
Joseph  had  prepared  the  house,  and  would  naturally  tell  him 
of  it ;  there  were  constant  communications  between  them ; 
daily  and  nightly  visitation ;  too  much  knowledge  of  these 
parties  and  this  transaction  to  leave  a  particle  of  doubt  on 
the  mind  of  any  one  that  Frank  Knapp  knew  the  murder  was  15 
to  be  committed  this  night.  The  hour  was  come,  and  he  knew 
it ;  if  so,  and  he  was  in  Brown  Street,  without  explaining  why 
he  was  there,  can  the  jury  for  a  moment  doubt  whether  he  was 
there  to  countenance,  aid,  or  support ;  or  for  curiosity  alone ; 
or  to  learn  how  the  wages  of  sin  and  death  were  earned  by  the  20 
perpetrator? 

62.  The  perpetrator  would  derive  courage,  and  strength,  and 
confidence,  from  the  knowledge  that  one  of  his  associates  was 
near  by.    If  he  was  in  Brown  Street,  he  could  have  been  there 
for  no  other  purpose.    If  there  for  this  purpose,  then  he  was,  25 
in  the  language  of  the  law,  present,  aiding  and  abetting  in  the 
murder. 

63.  His  interest  lay  in  being  somewhere  else.    If  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  murder,  no  part  to  act,  why  not  stay 

at  home?    Why  should  he  jeopard  his  own  life,  if  it  was  not  30 
agreed  that  he  should  be  there?    He  would  not  voluntarily  go 
where  the  very  place  would  cause  him  to  swing  if  detected. 
He  would  not  voluntarily  assume  the  place  of  danger.    His 
taking  this  place  proves  that  he  went  to  give  aid.    His  staying 


98      THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

away  would  have  made  an  alibi.  If  he  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  murder,  he  would  be  at  home,  where  he  could  prove 
his  alibi.  He  knew  he  was  in  danger,  because  he  was  guilty 
of  the  conspiracy,  and,  if  he  had  nothing  to  do,  would  not 
5  expose  himself  to  suspicion  or  detection. 

64.  Did  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  countenance  this  murder? 
Did  he  concur,  or  did  he  non-concur,  in  what  the  perpetrator 
was  about  to  do?    Would  he  have  tried  to  shield  him?    Would 
he  have  furnished  his  cloak  for  protection?    Would  he  have 

10  pointed  out  a  safe  way  of  retreat?  As  you  would  answer  these 
questions,  so  you  should  answer  the  general  question,  whether 
he  was  there  consenting  to  the  murder,  or  whether  he  was 
there  as  a  spectator  only. 

65.  One  word  more  on  this  presence,  called  constructive 
15  presence.    What  aid  is  to  be  rendered?    Where  is  the  line  to 

be  drawn  between  acting  and  omitting  to  act?  Suppose  he 
had  been  in  the  house,  suppose  he  had  followed  the  perpetra 
tor  to  the  chamber,  what  could  he  have  done?  This  was  to 
be  a  murder  by  stealth;  it  was  to  be  a  secret  assassination. 

20  It  was  not  their  purpose  to  have  an  open  combat ;  they  were 
to  approach  their  victim  unawares,  and  silently  give  the  fatal 
blow.  But  if  he  had  been  in  the  chamber,  no  one  can  doubt 
that  he  would  have  been  an  abettor;  because  of  his  presence, 
and  ability  to  render  services,  if  needed.  What  service  could 

25  he  have  rendered,  if  there  ?  Could  he  have  helped  him  to 
fly?  Could  he  have  aided  the  silence  of  his  movements? 
Could  he  have  facilitated  his  retreat,  on  the  first  alarm? 
Surely,  this  was  a  case  where  there  was  more  of  safety  in 
going  alone  than  with  another;  where  company  would  only 

30  embarrass.  Richard  Crowninshield  would  prefer  to  go  alone. 
He  knew  his  errand  too  well.  His  nerves  needed  no  collateral 
support.  He  was  not  the  man  to  take  with  him  a  trembling 
companion.  He  would  prefer  to  have  his  aid  at  a  distance. 
He  would  not  wish  to  be  encumbered  by  his  presence.  He 


WEBSTER  99 

would  prefer  to  have  him  out  of  the  house.  He  would  prefer 
that  he  should  be  in  Brown  Street.  But  whether  in  the  cham 
ber,  in  the  house,  in  the  garden,  or  in  the  street,  whatsoever 
is  aiding  in  actual  presence  is  aiding  in  constructive  presence ; 
anything  that  is  aid  in  one  case  is  aid  in  the  other.  5 

66.  If,  then,  the  aid  be  anywhere,  so  as  to  embolden  the 
perpetrator,  to  afford  him  hope  or  confidence  in  his  enterprise, 
it  is  the  same  as  though  the  person  stood  at  his  elbow  with  his 
sword  drawn.    His  being  there  ready  to  act,  with  the  power  to 
act,  is  what  makes  him  an  abettor.  10 

67.  What  are  \hzfacts  in  relation  to  this  presence?    Frank 
Knapp  is  proved  to  have  been  a  conspirator,  proved  to  have 
known  that  the  deed  was  now  to  be  done.    Is  it  not  probable 
that  he  was  in  Brown  Street  to  concur  in  the  murder?    There 
were  four  conspirators.    It  was  natural  that  some  one  of  them  15 
should  go  with  the  perpetrator.    Richard  Crowninshield  was  to 
be  the  perpetrator ;  he  was  to  give  the  blow.    There  is  no  evi 
dence  of  any  casting  of  the  parts  for  the  others.    The  defend 
ant  would  probably  be  the  man  to  take  the  second  part.    He 
was  fond  of  exploits,  he  was  accustomed  to  the  use  of  sword  20 
canes  and  dirks.    If  any  aid  was  required,  he  was  the  man  to 
give  it.    At  least,  there  is  no  evidence  to  the  contrary  of  this. 

68.  Aid  could  not  have  been  received  from  Joseph  Knapp, 
or  from  George  Crowninshield.    Joseph  Knapp  was  at  Wen- 
ham,  and  took  good  care  to  prove  that  he  was  there.    George  25 
Crowninshield  has  proved  satisfactorily  where  he  was ;  that  he 
was  in  other  company,  such  as  it  was,  until  eleven  o'clock. 
This  narrows  the  inquiry.    This  demands  of  the  prisoner  to 
show,  if  he  was  not  in  this  place,  where  he  was.    It  calls  on 
him  loudly  to  show  this,  and  to  show  it  truly.    If  he  could  30 
show  it,  he  would  do  it.    If  he  does  not  tell,  and  that  truly,  it 

is  against  him.  The  defense  of  an  alibi  is  a  double-edged 
sword.  He  knew  that  he  was  in  a  situation  where  he  might  be 
called  upon  to  account  for  himself.  If  he  had  had  no  particular 


100    THE   MURDER   OF  CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

appointment  or  business  to  attend  to,  he  would  have  taken 
care  to  be  able  so  to  account.  He  would  have  been  out  of 
town,  or  in  some  good  company.  Has  he  accounted  for  him 
self  on  that  night  to  your  satisfaction  ? 

5  69.  The  prisoner  has  attempted  to  prove  an  alibi  in  two 
ways.  In  the  first  place,  by  four  young  men  with  whom  he 
says  he  was  in  company,  on  the  evening  of  the  murder,  from 
seven  o'clock  till  near  ten  o'clock.  This  depends  upon  the 
certainty  of  the  night.  In  the  second  place,  by  his  family, 

10  from  ten  o'clock  afterwards.  This  depends  upon  the  certainty 
of  the  time  of  the  night.  These  two  classes  of  proof  have  no 
connection  with  each  other.  One  may  be  true,  and  the  other 
false;  or  they  may  both  be  true,  or  both  be  false.  I  shall 
examine  this  testimony  with  some  attention,  because,  on  a 

15  former  trial,  it  made  more  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 
court  than  on  my  own  mind.  I  think,  when  carefully  sifted 
and  compared,  it  will  be  found  to  have  in  it  more  of  plausibil 
ity  than  reality. 

70.  Mr.  Page  testifies  that  on  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  April 

20  he  was  in  company  with  Burchmore,  Balch,  and  Forrester,  and 
that  he  met  the  defendant  about  seven  o'clock,  near  the  Salem 
Hotel ;  that  he  afterwards  met  him  at  Remond's,  about  nine 
o'clock,  and  that  he  was  in  company  with  him  a  considerable 
part  of  the  evening.  This  young  gentleman  is  a  member  of 

25  college,  and  says  that  he  came  to  town  the  Saturday  evening 
previous ;  that  he  is  now  able  to  say  that  it  was  the  night  of 
the  murder  when  he  walked  with  Frank  Knapp,  from  the  recol 
lection  of  the  fact,  that  he  called  himself  to  an  account,  on  the 
morning  after  the  murder,  as  it  is  natural  for  men  to  do  when 

30  an  extraordinary  occurrence  happens.  Gentlemen,  this  kind 
of  evidence  is  not  satisfactory ;  general  impressions  as  to  time 
are  not  to  be  relied  on.  If  I  were  called  on  to  state  the  par 
ticular  day  on  which  any  witness  testified  in  this  cause,  I  could 
not  do  it.  Every  man  will  notice  the  same  thing  in  his  own 


WEBSTER  101 

mind.  There  is  no  one  of  these  young  men  that  could  give  an 
account  of  himself  for  any  other  day  in  the  month  of  April. 
They  are  made  to  remember  the  fact,  and  then  they  think 
they  remember  the  time.  The  witness  has  no  means  of  know 
ing  it  was  Tuesday  rather  than  any  other  time.  He  did  not  5 
know  it  at  first ;  he  could  not  know  it  afterwards.  He  says  he 
called  himself  to  an  account.  This  has  no  more  to  do  with 
the  murder  than  with  the  man  in  the  moon.  Such  testimony 
is  not  worthy  to  be  relied  on  in  any  forty-shilling  cause.  What 
occasion  had  he  to  call  himself  to  an  account?  Did  he  sup-  10 
pose  that  he  should  be  suspected?  Had  he  any  intimation  of 
this  conspiracy? 

71.  Suppose,  Gentlemen,  you  were   either  of   you   asked 
where  you  were,  or  what  you  were  doing,  on   the  fifteenth 
day  of  June ;  you  could  not  answer  this  question  without  call-  15 
ing  to  mind  some  events  to  make  it  certain.    Just  as  well  may 
you  remember  on  what  you  dined  each  day  of  the  year  past. 
Time   is   identical.    Its   subdivisions    are  all  alike.    No   man 
knows  one  day  from  another,  or  one  hour  from  another,  but 
by  some  fact  connected  with  it.    Days  and  hours  are  not  visi-  20 
ble  to  the  senses,  nor  to  be  apprehended  and  distinguished  by 
the  understanding.    The  flow  of  time  is  known  only  by  some 
thing  which  marks   it;    and  he  who   speaks  of  the  date   of 
occurrences  with  nothing  to  guide  his  recollection  speaks  at 
random,  and  is  not  to  be  relied  on.    This  young  gentleman  25 
remembers  the  facts  and  occurrences ;  he  knows  nothing  why 
they  should  not  have  happened  on  the  evening  of  the  6th ; 
but  he  knows  no  more.    All  the  rest  is  evidently  conjecture  or 
impression. 

72.  Mr.  White  informs  you  that  he  told  him  he  could  not  30 
tell  what  night  it  was.    The  first  thoughts  are  all  that  are  val 
uable  in  such  case.    They  miss  the  mark  by  taking  second 
aim.    Mr.  Balch  believes^  but  is  not  sure,  that  he  was  with 
Prank  Knapp  on  the  evening  of  the  murder.    He  has  given 


102    THE   MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

different  accounts  of  the  time.  He  has  no  means  of  making  it 
certain.  All  he  knows  is,  that  it  was  some  evening  before 
Fast-day.  But  whether  Monday,  Tuesday,  or  Saturday,  he 
cannot  tell.  Mr.  Burchmore  says,  to  the  best  of  his  belief,  it 
5  was  the  evening  of  the  murder.  Afterwards  he  attempts  to 
speak  positively,  from  recollecting  that  he  mentioned  the  cir 
cumstance  to  William  Pierce,  as  he  went  to  the  Mineral  Spring 
on  Fast-day.  Last  Monday  morning  he  told  Colonel  Putnam 
he  could  not  fix  the  time.  This  witness  stands  in  a  much 

10  worse  plight  than  either  of  the  others.  It  is  difficult  to  recon 
cile  all  he  has  said  with  any  belief  in  the  accuracy  of  his  recol 
lections.  Mr.  Forrester  does  not  speak  with  any  certainty  as 
to  the  night ;  and  it  is  very  certain  that  he  told  Mr.  Loring 
and  others  that  he  did  not  know  what  night  it  was. 

IS  73-  Now,  what  does  the  testimony  of  these  four  young  men 
amount  to?  The  only  circumstance  by  which  they  approxi 
mate  to  an  identifying  of  the  night  is,  that  three  of  them  say 
it  was  cloudy ;  they  think  their  walk  was  either  on  Monday  or 
Tuesday  evening,  and  it  is  admitted  that  Monday  evening  was 

20  clear,  whence  they  draw  the  inference  that  it  must  have  been 
Tuesday. 

74.  But,  fortunately,  there  is  one  fart  disclosed  in  their  testi 
mony  that  settles  the  question.  Balch  says,  that  on  the  even 
ing,  whenever  it  was,  he  saw  the  prisoner;  the  prisoner  told 

25  him  he  was  going  out  of  town  on  horseback,  for  a  distance 
of  about  twenty  minutes'  drive,  and  that  he  was  going  to  get 
a  horse  at  Osborn's.  This  was  about  seven  o'clock.  At  about 
nine,  Balch  says  he  saw  the  prisoner  again,  and  was  then  told 
by  him  that  he  had  had  his  ride,  and  had  returned.  Now  it 

30  appears  by  Osborn's  books,  that  the  prisoner  had  a  saddle-horse 
from  his  stable,  not  on  Tuesday  evening,  the  night  of  the  mur 
der,  but  on  the  Saturday  evening  previous.  This  fixes  the  time 
about  which  these  young  men  testify,  and  is  a  complete  answer 
and  refutation  of  the  attempted  alibi  on  Tuesday  evening. 


WEBSTER  103 

75.  I  come  now  to  speak  of  the  testimony  adduced  by  the 
defendant  to  explain  where  he  was  after  ten  o'clock  on  the 
night  of  the   murder.    This  comes  chiefly  from  members  of 
the  family ;  from  his  father  and  brothers. 

76.  It  is  agreed  that  the  affidavit  of  the  prisoner  should  be    5 
received  as  evidence  of  what  his  brother,  Samuel  H.  Knapp, 
would  testify  if  present.    Samuel  H.  Knapp  says,  that,  about 
ten  minutes  past  ten  o'clock,  his  brother,  Frank  Knapp,  on  his 
way  to  bed,  opened  his  chamber  door,  made  some  remarks, 
closed  the  door,  and  went  to  his  chamber  ;  and  that  he  did  not  10 
hear  him  leave  it  afterwards.    How  is  this  witness  able  to  fix 
the  time  at  ten  minutes  past  ten?    There  is  no  circumstance 
mentioned  by  which  he  fixes  it.    He  had  been  in  bed,  probably 
asleep,  and  was  aroused  from  his  sleep  by  the  opening  of  the 
door.    Was  he  in  a  situation  to  speak  of  time  with  precision?  15 
Could  he  know,  under  such  circumstances,  whether  it  was  ten 
minutes  past  ten,   or  ten  minutes  before  eleven,  when  his 
brother  spoke  to  him?    What  would  be  the  natural  result  in 
such  a  case?    But  we  are  not  left  to  conjecture  this  result. 
We  have   positive  testimony  on   this   point.    Mr.  Webb  tells  20 
you  that  Samuel  told  him,  on  the  8th  of  June,  "  that  he  did 
not  know  what  time  his  brother  Frank  came  home,  and  that  he 
was  not  at  home  when  he  went  to  bed."    You  will  consider  this 
testimony  of  Mr.  Webb  as  indorsed  upon  this  affidavit;  and 
with  this  indorsement  upon  it,  you  will  give  it  its  due  weight.  25 
This  statement  was  made  to  him  after  Frank  was  arrested. 

77.  I  come  to  the  testimony  of  the  father.    I  find  myself 
incapable  of  speaking 'of  him  or  his  testimony  with  severity. 
Unfortunate  old  man  !    Another  Lear,  in  the  conduct  of  his 
children ;  another  Lear,  I  apprehend,  in  the  effect  of  his  dis-  30 
tress  upon  his  mind  and  understanding.    He  is  brought  here 

to  testify,  under  circumstances  that  disarm  severity,  and  call 
loudly  for  sympathy.  Though  it  is  impossible  not  to  see  that 
his  story  cannot  be  credited,  yet  I  am  unable  to  speak  of  him 


104    THE   MURDER   OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

otherwise  than  in  sorrow  and  grief.  Unhappy  father !  he 
strives  to  remember,  perhaps  persuades  himself  that  he  does 
remember,  that  on  the  evening  of  the  murder  he  was  himself 
at  home  at  ten  o'clock.  He  thinks,  or  seems  to  think,  that  his 
5  son  came  in  at  about  five  minutes  past  ten.  He  fancies  that  he 
remembers  his  conversation ;  he  thinks  he  spoke  of  bolting  the 
door ;  he  thinks  he  asked  the  time  of  night ;  he  seems  to  re 
member  his  then  going  to  his  bed.  Alas  !  these  are  but  the 
swimming  fancies  of  an  agitated  and  distressed  mind.  Alas ! 
10  they  are  but  the  dreams  of  hope,  its  uncertain  lights,  flickering 
on  the  thick  darkness  of  parental  distress.  Alas  !  the  miserable 
father  knows  nothing,  in  reality,  of  all  these  things. 

78.  Mr.  Shepard  says  that  the  first  conversation  he  had  wit' 
Mr.  Knapp  was  soon  after  the  murder,  and  before  the  arrest  ox 

15  his  sons.  Mr.  Knapp  says  it  was  after  the  arrest  of  his  sons.  His 
own  fears  led  him  to  say  to  Mr.  Shepard  that  his  "son  Frank 
was  at  home  that  night ;  and  so  Phippen  told  him,"  or  "  as 
Phippen  told  him."  Mr.  Shepard  says  that  he  was  struck  with 
the  remark  at  the  time ;  that  it  made  an  unfavorable  impres- 

20  sion  on  his  mind ;  he  does  not  tell  you  what  that  impression 
was,  but  when  you  connect  it  with  the  previous  inquiry  he 
had  made,  whether  Frank  had  continued  to  associate  with  the 
Crowninshields,  and  recollect  that  the  Crowninshields  were  then 
known  to  be  suspected  of  this  crime,  can  you  doubt  what  this 

25  impression  was?  can  you  doubt  as  to  the  fears  he  then  had? 

79.  This  poor  old  man  tells  you  that  he  was  greatly  perplexed 
at  the  time ;   that  he  found  himself  in  embarrassed  circum 
stances ;    that  on  this  very   night  he   was   engaged  in  mak 
ing  an  assignment  of  his  property  to  his  friend,  Mr.  Shepard. 

30  If  ever  charity  should  furnish  a  mantle  for  error,  it  should  be 
here.  Imagination  cannot  picture  a  more  deplorable,  distressed 
condition. 

80.  The  same  general  remarks  may  be  applied  to  his  conver 
sation  with  Mr.  Treadwell  as  have  been  made  upon  that  with 


WEBSTER  105 

Mr.  Shepard.  He  told  him  that  he  believed  Frank  was  at 
home  about  the  usual  time.  In  his  conversations  with  either 
of  these  persons,  he  did  not  pretend  to  know,  of  his  own  knowl 
edge,  the  time  that  he  came  home.  He  now  tells  you  positively 
that  he  recollects  the  time,  and  that  he  so  told  Mr.  Shepard.  5 
He  is  directly  contradicted  by  both  these  witnesses,  as  respect 
able  men  as  Salem  affords. 

8 1 .  This  idea  of  an  alibi  is  of  recent  origin.    Would  Samuel 
Knapp  have  gone  to  sea  if  it  were  then  thought  of?    His  testi 
mony,  if  true,  was  too  important  to  be  lost.    If  there  be  any  10 
truth  in  this  part  of  the  alibi,  it  is  so  near  in  point  of  time  that 

it  cannot  be  relied  on.  The  mere  variation  of  half  an  hour 
would  avoid  it.  The  mere  variations  of  different  timepieces 
would  explain  it. 

82.  Has  the  defendant  proved  where  he  was  on  that  night?  15 
If  you  doubt  about  it,  there  is  an  end  of  it.    The  burden  is 
upon  him  to  satisfy  you  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.    Osborn's 
books,  in  connection  with  what  the  young  men  state,  are  con 
clusive,  I  think,  on  this  point.    He  has  not, 'then,  accounted 
for  himself ;  he  has  attempted  it,  and  has  failed.    I  pray  you  20 
to  remember,  Gentlemen,  that   this  is  a   case   in  which   the 
prisoner  would,  more  than  any  other,  be  rationally  able  to  ac 
count  for  himself  on  the  night  of  the  murder,  if  he  could  do  so. 
He  was  in  the  conspiracy,  he  knew  the  murder  was  then  to  be 
committed,  and  if  he  himself  was  to  have  no  hand  in  its  actual  25 
execution,  he  would  of  course,  as  a  matter  of  safety  and  pre 
caution,  be  somewhere  else,  and  be  able  to  prove  afterwards 
that  he  had   been   somewhere   else.    Having   this   motive   to 
prove  himself  elsewhere,  and  the  power  to  do  it  if  he  were 
elsewhere,  his  failing  in  such  proof  must  necessarily  leave  a  30 
very  strong  inference  against  him. 

83.  But,  Gentlemen,  let  us  now  consider  what  is  the  evi 
dence  produced  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  prove  that 
Frank  Knapp,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  was  in  Brown  Street  on 


106    THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

the  night  of  the  murder.  This  is  a  point  of  vital  importance 
in  this  cause.  Unless  this  be  made  out,  beyond  reasonable 
doubt,  the  law  of  presence  does  not  apply  to  the  case.  The 
government  undertakes  to  prove  that  he  was  present  aiding  in 

5  the  murder,  by  proving  that  he  was  in  Brown  Street  for  this 
purpose.  Now,  what  are  the  undoubted  facts?  They  are,  that 
two  persons  were  seen  in  that  street,  several  times  during  that 
evening,  under  suspicious  circumstances ;  under  such  circum 
stances  as  induced  those  who  saw  them  to  watch  their  move- 

10  ments.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Mirick  saw  a  man 
standing  at  the  post  opposite  his  store  from  fifteen  minutes  be 
fore  nine  until  twenty  minutes  after,  dressed  in  a  full  frock- 
coat,  glazed  cap,  and  so  forth,  in  size  and  general  appearance 
answering  to  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  This  person  was  waiting 

15  there;  and  whenever  any  one  approached  him,  he  moved  to 
and  from  the  corner,  as  though  he  would  avoid  being  suspected 
or  recognized.  Afterwards,  two  persons  were  seen  by  Webster, 
walking  in  Howard  Street,  with  a  slow,  deliberate  movement 
that  attracted  his  attention.  This  was  about  half-past  nine. 

20  One  of  these  he  took  to  be  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  the  other 
he  did  not  know. 

84.  About  half -past  ten  a  person  is  seen  sitting  on  the  rope- 
walk  steps,  wrapped  in  a  cloak.  He  drops  his  head  when  passed, 
to  avoid  being  known.  Shortly  after,  two  persons  are  seen  to 

25  meet  in  this  street,  without  ceremony  or  salutation,  and  in  a 
hurried  manner  to  converse  for  a  short  time ;  then  to  separate, 
and  run  off  with  great  speed.  Now,  on  this  same  night  a  gen 
tleman  is  slain,  murdered  in  his  bed,  his  house  being  entered 
by  stealth  from  without ;  and  his  house  situated  within  three 

3o  hundred  feet  of  this  street.  The  windows  of  his  chamber  were 
in  plain  sight  from  this  street ;  a  weapon  of  death  is  afterwards 
found  in  a  place  where  these  persons  were  seen  to  pass,  in  a 
retired  place,  around  which  they  had  been  seen  lingering.  It 
is  now  known  that  this  murder  was  committed  by  four  persons, 


WEBSTER 

conspiring  together  for  this  purpose.    No  account  is  given  who 
these  suspected  persons  thus  seen  in  Brown  Street  and  its  neigh 
borhood  were.  Now,  I  ask,  Gentlemen,  whether  you  or  any  man 
can  doubt  that  this  murder  was  committed  by  the  persons  who 
were  thus  in  and  about  Brown  Street.    Can  any  person  doubt    5 
that  they  were  there  for  purposes  connected  with  this  murder? 
If  not  for  this  purpose,  what  were  they  there  for  ?    When  there 
is  a  cause  so  near  at  hand,  why  wander  into  conjecture  for  an  • 
explanation?    Common  sense  requires  you  to  take  the  nearest 
adequate  cause  for  a  known  effect.    Who  were  these  suspicious  10 
persons  in  Brown  Street?    There  was  something  extraordinary 
about  them  ;  something  noticeable,  and  noticed  at  the  time ; 
something  in  their  appearance  that  aroused  suspicion.    And  a 
man  is  found  the  next  morning  murdered  in  the  near  vicinity. 

85.  Now,  so  long  as  no  other  account  shall  be  given  of  those  15 
suspicious  persons,  so  long  the  inference  must  remain  irresistible 
that  they  were  the  murderers.    Let  it  be  remembered  that  it 

is  already  shown  that  this  murder  was  the  result  of  conspiracy 
and  of  concert ;  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  house,  having 
been  opened  from  within,  was  entered  by  stealth  from  without.  20 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  Brown  Street,  where  these  persons 
were  repeatedly  seen  under  such  suspicious  circumstances,  was 
a  place  from  which  every  occupied  room  in  Mr.  White's  house 
is  clearly  seen ;  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  place,  though 
thus  very  near  to  Mr.  White's  house,  is  a  retired  and  lonely  25 
place ;  and  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  instrument  of  death 
was  afterwards  found  concealed  very  near  the  same  spot. 

86.  Must  not  every  man  come  to  the  conclusion  that  these 
persons  thus  seen  in  Brown  Street  were  the  murderers  ?    Every 
man's  own  judgment,  I  think,  must  satisfy  him  that  this  must  30 
be  so.    It  is  a  plain  deduction  of  common  sense.    It  is  a  point 
on  which  each  one  of  you  may  reason  like  a  Hale  or  a  Mans 
field.    The  two  occurrences  explain  each  other.    The  murder 
shows  why  these  persons  were  thus  lurking,  at  that  hour,  in 


108    THE    MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH   WHITE 

Brown  Street;   and  their  lurking  in  Brown  Street  shows  who 
committed  the  murder. 

87.  If,  then,  the  persons  in  and  about  Brown  Street  were 
the  plotters  and  executors  of  the  murder  of  Captain  White,  we 
5  know  who  they  were,  and  you  know  that  there  is  one  of  them. 
This  fearful  concatenation  of  circumstances  puts  him  to  an 
account.  He  was  a  conspirator.  He  had  entered  into  this  plan 
of  murder.  The  murder  is  committed,  and  he  is  known  to  have 
been  within  three  minutes'  walk  of  the  place.  He  must  account 
10  for  himself.  He  has  attempted  this,  and  failed.  Then,  with 
all  these  general  reasons  to  show  he  was  actually  in  Brown 
Street,  and  his  failures  in  his  alibi,  let  us  see  what  is  the  direct 
proof  of  his  being  there.  But  first,  let  me  ask,  is  it  not  very 
remarkable  that  there  is  no  attempt  to  show  where  Richard 
15  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  was  on  that  night?  We  hear  nothing  of 
him.  He  was  seen  in  none  of  his  usual  haunts  about  the  town. 
Yet,  if  he  was  the  actual  perpetrator  of  the  murder,  which  no 
body  doubts,  he  was  in  the  town  somewhere.  Can  you,  there 
fore,  entertain  a  doubt  that  he  was  one  of  the  persons  seen  in 
20  Brown  Street?  And  as  to  the  prisoner,  you  will  recollect,  that, 
since  the  testimony  of  the  young  men  has  failed  to  show  where 
he  was  on  that  evening,  the  last  we  hear  or  know  of  him,  on 
the  day  preceding  the  murder,  is,  that  at  four  o'clock,  P.M.,  he 
was  at  his  brothers'  in  Wenham.  He  had  left  home,  after  din- 
25  ner,  in  a  manner  doubtless  designed  to  avoid  observation,  and 
had  gone  to  Wenham,  probably  by  way  of  Danvers.  As  we 
hear  nothing  of  him  after  four  o'clock,  P.M.,  for  the  remainder 
of  the  day  and  evening  ;  as  he  was  one  of  the  conspirators  ;  as 
Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  was  another ;  as  Richard  Crown- 
jo  inshield,  Jr.,  was  in  town  in  the  evening,  and  yet  seen  in  no 
usual  place  of  resort,  —  the  inference  is  very  fair  that  Richard 
Crowninshield,  Jr.,  and  the  prisoner  were  together,  acting  in 
execution  of  their  conspiracy.  Of  the  four  conspirators,  Joseph 
Knapp  was  at  Wenham,  and  George  Crowninshield  has  been 


WEBSTER  109 

accounted  for  ;  so  that  if  the  persons  seen  in  Brown  Street 
were  the  murderers,  one  of  them  must  have  been  Richard 
Crowninshield,  Jr.,  and  the  other  must  have  been  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar. 

88.  Now,  as  to  the  proof  of  his  identity  with  one  of  the  per-    5 
sons  seen  in  Brown  Street.    Mr.  Mirick,  a  cautious  witness, 
examined  the  person  he  saw,  closely,  in  a  light  night,  and  says 
that  he  thinks  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  is  the  person ;  and  that  he 
should  not  hesitate  at  all,  if  he  were  seen  in  the  same  dress. 
His  opinion  is  formed  partly  from  his  own  observation,  and  10 
partly  from  the  description  of  others.    But  this  description  turns 
out  to  be  only  in  regard  to  the  dress.    It  is  said  that  he  is  now 
more  confident  than  on  the  former  trial.    If  he  has  varied  in 
his  testimony,  make  such  allowance  as  you  may  think  proper. 

I  do  not  perceive  any  material  variance.    He  thought  him  the  15 
same  person,  when  he  was  first  brought  to  court,  and  as  he  saw 
him  get  out  of  the  chaise.    This  is  one  of  the  cases  in  which 
a  witness  is  permitted  to  give  an  opinion.    This  witness  is  as 
honest  as  yourselves,  neither  willing  nor  swift ;  but  he  says  he 
believes  it  was  the  man.    His  words  are,  "  This  is  my  opinion  "  ;  20 
and  this  opinion  it  is  proper  for  him  to  give.    If  partly  founded 
on  what  he  has  heard,  then  this  opinion  is  not  to  be  taken  ;  but 
if  on  what  he  saw,  then  you  can  have  no  better  evidence.    I 
lay  no  stress  on  similarity  of  dress.    No  man  will  ever  lose  his 
life  by  my  voice  on  such  evidence.    But  then  it  is  proper  to  25 
notice  that  no  inferences  drawn  from  any  dissimilarity  of  dress 
can  be  given  in  the  prisoner's  favor ;  because,  in  fact,  the  per 
son  seen  by  Mirick  was  dressed  like  the  prisoner. 

89.  The  description  of  the  person  seen  by  Mirick  answers  to 
that  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.    In  regard  to  the  supposed  dis-  30 
crepancy  of  statements,  before  and  now,  there  would  be  no  end 

to  such  minute  inquiries.  It  would  not  be  strange  if  witnesses 
should  vary.  I  do  not  think  much  of  slight  shades  of  variation. 
If  I  believe  the  witness  is  honest,  that  is  enough.  If  he  has 


110    THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

expressed  himself  more  strongly  now  than  then,  this  does  not 
prove  him  false. 

90.  Peter  E.  Webster  saw  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  as  he  then 
thought,  and  still  thinks,  walking  in  Howard  Street  at  half-past 

5  nine  o'clock.  He  then  thought  it  was  Frank  Knapp,  and  has 
not  altered  his  opinion  since.  He  knew  him  well ;  he  had 
long  known  him.  If  he  then  thought  it  was  he,  this  goes  far 
to  prove  it.  He  observed  him  the  more,  as  it  was  unusual  to 
see  gentlemen  walk  there  at  that  hour.  It  was  a  retired,  lonely 

10  street.  Now,  is  there  reasonable  doubt  that  Mr.  Webster  did 
see  him  there  that  night  ?  How  can  you  have  more  proof  than 
this?  He  judged  by  his  walk,  by  his  general  appearance,  by  his 
deportment.  We  all  judge  in  this  manner.  If  you  believe  he  is 
right,  it  goes  a  great  way  in  this  case.  But  then  this  person,  it  is 

15  said,  had  a  cloak  on,  and  that  he  could  not,  therefore,  be  the 
same  person  that  Mirick  saw.  If  we  were  treating  of  men  that 
had  no  occasion  to  disguise  themselves  or  their  conduct,  there 
might  be  something  in  this  argument.  But  as  it  is  there  is  little 
in  it.  It  may  be  presumed  that  they  would  change  their  dress. 

20  This  would  help  their  disguise.  What  is  easier  than  to  throw 
off  a  cloak,  and  again  put  it  on  ?  Perhaps  he  was  less  fearful 
of  being  known  when  alone,  than  when  with  the  perpetrator. 

9 1 .  Mr.  Southwick  swears  all  that  a  man  can   swear.    He 
has  the  best  means  of  judging  that  could  be  had  at  the  time. 

25  He  tells  you  that  he  left  his  father's  house  at  half-past  ten 
o'clock,  and  as  he  passed  to  his  own  house  in  Brown  Street  he 
saw  a  man  sitting  on  the  steps  of  the  rope-walk ;  that  he  passed 
him  three  times,  and  each  time  he  held  down  his  head,  so  that 
he  did  not  see  his  face.  That  the  man  had  on  a  cloak,  which 

30  was  not  wrapped  around  him,  and  a  glazed  cap.  That  he  took 
the  man  to  be  Frank  Knapp  at  the  time ;  that,  when  he  went 
into  his  house,  he  told  his  wife  that  he  thought  it  was  Frank 
Knapp ;  that  he  knew  him  well,  having  known  him  from  a  boy. 
And  his  wife  swears  that  he  did  so  tell  her  when  he  came  home. 


WEBSTER  III 

What  could  mislead  this  witness  at  the  time?  He  was  not  then 
suspecting  Frank  Knapp  of  anything.  He  could  not  then  be 
influenced  by  any  prejudice.  If  you  believe  that  the  witness 
saw  Frank  Knapp  in  this  position  at  this  time,  it  proves  the 
case.  Whether  you  believe  it  or  not  depends  upon  the  credit  5 
of  the  witness.  He  swears  it.  If  true,  it  is  solid  evidence. 
Mrs.  Southwick  supports  her  husband.  Are  they  true?  Are 
they  worthy  of  belief  ?  If  he  deserves  the  epithets  applied  to 
him,  then  he  ought  not  to  be  believed.  In  this  fact  they  can 
not  be  mistaken ;  they  are  right,  or  they  are  perjured.  As  to  10 
his  not  speaking  to  Frank  Knapp,  that  depends  upon  their  inti 
macy.  But  a  very  good  reason  is,  Frank  chose  to  disguise  him 
self.  This  makes  nothing  against  his  credit.  But  it  is  said  that 
he  should  not  be  believed.  And  why?  Because,  it  is  said,  he 
himself  now  tells  you,  that,  when  he  testified  before  the  grand  15 
jury  at  Ipswich,  he  did  not  then  say  that  he  thought  the  person 
he  saw  in  Brown  Street  was  Frank  Knapp,  but  that  "  the  per 
son  was  about  the  size  of  Selman."  The  means  of  attacking 
him,  therefore,  come  from  himself.  If  he  is  a  false  man,  why 
should  he  tell  truths  against  himself?  They  rely  on  his  veracity  20 
to  prove  that  he  is  a  liar.  Before  you  can  come  to  this  con 
clusion,  you  will  consider  whether  all  the  circumstances  are 
now  known,  that  should  have  a  bearing  on  this  point.  Suppose 
that,  when  he  was  before  the  grand  jury,  he  was  asked  by  the 
attorney  this  question,  "Was  the  person  you  saw  in  Brown  25 
Street  about  the  size  of  Selman?"  and  he  answered  "Yes." 
This  was  all  true.  Suppose,  also,  that  he  expected  to  be 
inquired  of  further,  and  no  further  questions  were  put  to  him. 
Would  it  not  be.  extremely  hard  to  impute  to  him  perjury  for 
this?  It  is  not  uncommon  for  witnesses  to  think  that  they  30 
have  done  all  their  duty,  when  they  have  answered  the  ques 
tions  put  to  them.  But  suppose  that  we  admit  that  he  did  not 
then  tell  all  he  knew,  this  does  not  affect  the/cz<r/at  all;  because 
he  did  tell,  at  the  time,  in  the  hearing  of  others,  that  the  person 


112    THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

he  saw  was  Frank  Knapp.  There  is  not  the  slightest  suggestion 
against  the  veracity  or  accuracy  of  Mrs.  Southwick.  Now  she 
swears  positively  that  her  husband  came  into  the  house  and 
told  her  that  he  had  seen  a  person  on  the  rope-walk  steps, 
5  and  believed  it  was  Frank  Knapp. 

92.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Southwick  is  contradicted,  also,  by 
Mr.  Shillaber.    I   do  not   so   understand   Mr.  Shillaber's  testi 
mony.    I  think  what  they  both  testify  is  reconcilable  and  con 
sistent.    My  learned  brother  said,  on  a  similar  occasion,  that 

10  there  is  more  probability,  in  such  cases,  that  the  persons  hear 
ing  should  misunderstand,  than  that  the  person  speaking  should 
contradict  himself.  I  think  the  same  remark  applicable  here. 

93.  You  have  all  witnessed  the  uncertainty  of  testimony, 
when  witnesses  are  called  to  testify  what  other  witnesses  said. 

15  Several  respectable  counselors  have  been  summoned,  on  this 
occasion,  to  give  testimony  of  that  sort.  They  have,  every  one 
of  them,  given  different  versions.  They  all  took  minutes  at  the 
time,  and  without  doubt  intend  to  state  the  truth.  But  still 
they  differ.  Mr.  Shillaber's  version  is  different  from  everything 

20  that  Southwick  has  stated  elsewhere.  But  little  reliance  is  to 
be  placed  on  slight  variations  in  testimony,  unless  they  are 
manifestly  intentional.  I  think  that  Mr.  Shillaber  must  be  sat 
isfied  that  he  did  not  rightly  understand  Mr.  Southwick.  I  con 
fess  I  misunderstood  Mr.  Shillaber  on  the  former  trial,  if  I  now 

25  rightly  understand  him.  I,  therefore,  did  not  then  recall  Mr. 
Southwick  to  the  stand.  Mr.  Southwick,  as  I  read  it,  understood 
Mr.  Shillaber  as  asking  him  about  a  person  coming  out  of 
Newbury  Street,  and  whether,  for  aught  he  knew,  it  might  not 
be  Richard  CrQwninshield,  Jr.  He  answered  that  he  could  not 

30  tell.  He  did  not  understand  Mr.  Shillaber  as  questioning  him 
as  to  the  person  whom  he  saw  sitting  on  the  steps  of  the  rope- 
walk.  Southwick,  on  this  trial,  having  heard  Mr.  Shillaber,  has 
been  recalled  to  the  stand,  and  states  that  Mr.  Shillaber  entirely 
misunderstood  him.  This  is  certainly  most  probable,  because 


WEBSTER  113 

the  controlling  fact  in  the  case  is  not  controverted  ;  that  is,  that 
Southwick  did  tell  his  wife,  at  the  very  moment  he  entered  his 
house,  that  he  had  seen  a  person  on  the  rope-walk  steps,  whom 
he  believed  to  be  Frank  Knapp.  Nothing  can  prove  with  more 
certainty  than  this,  that  Southwick,  at  the  time,  thought  the  5 
person  whom  he  thus  saw  to  be  the  prisoner  at  the  bar. 

94.  Mr.  Bray  is  an  acknowledged  accurate  and  intelligent 
witness.    He  was  highly  complimented  by  my  brother  on  the 
former  trial,  although  he  now  charges  him  with  varying  his 
testimony.    What  could  be  his  motive?    You  will  be  slow  in  10 
imputing  to  him  any  design  of  this  kind.    I  deny  altogether 
that  there  is  any  contradiction.    There  may  be  differences,  but 
not  contradiction.   These  arise  from  the  difference  in  the  ques 
tions  put ;  the  difference  between  believing  and  knowing.    On 
the  first  trial,  he  said  he  did  not  know  the  person,  and  now  says  15 
the  same.    Then,  we  did  not  do  all  we  had  a  right  to  do.    We 
did  not  ask  him  who  he  thought  it  was.    Now,  when  so  asked, 
he  says  he  believes  it  was  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.    If  he  had 
then  been  asked  this  question,  he  would  have  given  the  same 
answer.    That  he  has  expressed  himself  more  strongly,  I  admit;  20 
but  he  has  not  contradicted  himself.    He  is  more  confident 
now ;  and  that  is  all.    A  man  may  not  assert  a  thing,  and  still 
may  have  no  doubt  upon  it.    Cannot  every  man  see  this  dis 
tinction  to  be  consistent?  I  leave  him  in  that  attitude;   that 
only  is  the  difference.    On  questions  of  identity,  opinion  is  evi-  25 
dence.    We  may  ask  the  witness,  either  if  he  knew  who  the 
person  seen  was,  or  who  he  thinks  he  was.    And  he  may  well 
answer,  as  Captain  Bray  has  answered,  that  he  does  not  know 
who  it  was,  but  that  he  thinks  it  was  the  prisoner. 

95.  We  have  offered  to  produce  witnesses  to  prove,  that,  as  30 
soon  as  Bray  saw  the  prisoner,  he  pronounced  him  the  same 
person.    We  are  not  at  liberty  to  call  them  to  corroborate  our 
own  witness.    How,   then,   could   this   fact  of  the   prisoner's 
being  in  Brown  Street  be  better  proved  ?    If  ten  witnesses  had 


114     THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

testified  to  it,  it  would  be  no  better.  Two  men,  who  knew  him 
well,  took  it  to  be  Frank  Knapp,  and  one  of  them  so  said, 
when  there  was  nothing  to  mislead  them.  Two  others,  who 
examined  him  closely,  now  swear  to  their  opinion  that  he  is 
5  the  man. 

96.  Miss  Jaqueth  saw  three  persons  pass  by  the  rope-walk, 
several  evenings  before   the  murder.    She  saw  one  of  them 
pointing  towards  Mr.  White's  house.    She  noticed  that  another 
had  something  which  appeared  to  be  like  an  instrument  of 

10  music;  that  he  put  it  behind  him  and  attempted  to  conceal 
it.  Who  were  these  persons?  This  was  but  a  few  steps  from 
the  place  where  this  apparent  instrument  of  music  (of  music 
such  as  Richard  Crowninshield,  Jr.,  spoke  of  to  Palmer)  was 
afterwards  found.  These  facts  prove  this  a  point  of  rendez- 

15  vous  for  these  parties.  They  show  Brown  Street  to  have  been 
the  place  'for  consultation  and  observation ;  and  to  this  pur 
pose  it  was  well  suited. 

97.  Mr.  Burns' s  testimony  is  also  important.    What  was  the 
defendant's  object  in   his  private   conversation  with   Burns? 

20  He  knew  that  Burns  was  out  that  night;  that  he  lived  near 
Brown  Street,  and  that  he  had  probably  seen  him;  and  he 
wished  him  to  say  nothing.  He  said  to  Burns,  "  If  you  saw 
any  of  your  friends  out  that  night,  say  nothing  about  it;  my 
brother  Joe  and  I  are  your  friends."  This  is  plain  proof  that 

25  he  wished  to  say  to  him, "  If  you  saw  me  in  Brown  Street  that 
night,  say  nothing  about  it." 

98.  But  it  is  said  that  Burns  ought  not  to  be  believed,  because 
he  mistook  the  color  of  the  dagger,  and  because  he  has  varied 
in  his  description  of  it.    These  are  slight  circumstances,  if  his 

30  general  character  be  good.  To  my  mind  they  are  of  no  im 
portance.  It  is  for  you  to  make  what  deduction  you  may 
think  proper,  on  this  account,  from  the  weight  of  his  evidence. 
His  conversation  with  Burns,  if  Burns  is  believed,  shows  two 
things  ;  first,  that  he  desired  Burns  not  to  mention  it,  if  he  had 


WEBSTER  115 

seen  him  on  the  night  of  the  murder ;  second,  that  he  wished 
to  fix  the  charge  of  murder  on  Mr.  Stephen  White.  Both  of 
these  prove  his  own  guilt. 

99.  I  think  you  will  be  of  opinion  that  Brown  Street  was  a 
probable  place  for  the  conspirators  to  assemble,  and  for  an  aid    5 
to  be  stationed.    If  we  knew  their  whole  plan,  and  if  we  were 
skilled  to  judge  in  such  a  case,  then  we  could  perhaps  deter 
mine  on  this  point  better.    But  it  is  a  retired  place,  and  still 
commands  a  full  view  of  the  house;  a  lonely  place,  but  still  a 
place  of  observation.    Not  so  lonely  that  a  person  would  ex-  10 
cite  suspicion  to  be  seen  walking  there  in  an  ordinary  manner ; 
not  so  public  as  to  be  noticed  by  many.    It  is  near  enough  to 
the  scene  of  action  in  point  of  law.    It  was  their  point  of  cen- 
trality.    The  club  was  found  near  the  spot,  in  a  place  provided 
for  it,  in  a  place  that  had  been  previously  hunted  out,  in  a  con-  1 5 
certed  place  of  concealment.    Here  was  their  point  of  rendez 
vous.    Here  might  the  lights  be  seen.    Here  might  an  aid  be 
secreted.    Here  was  he  within  call.    Here  might  he  be  aroused 
by  the  sound  of  the  whistle.    Here  might  he  carry  the  weapon. 
Here  might  he  receive  the  murderer  after  the  murder.  20 

100.  Then,  Gentlemen,  the  general  question  occurs,  Is  it 
satisfactorily  proved,  by  all  these  facts  and  circumstances,  that 
the  defendant  was  in  and  about  Brown  Street  on  the  night  of 
the  murder?    Considering  that  the  murder  was  effected  by  a 
conspiracy ;  considering  that  he  was  one  of  the  four  conspira-  25 
tors ;  considering  that  two  of  the  conspirators  have  accounted 
for  themselves  on  the  night  of  the  murder,  and  were  not  in 
Brown  Street ;  considering  that  the  prisoner  does  not  account 
for  himself,  nor  show  where  he  was ;  considering  that  Richard 
Crowninshield,  the  other  conspirator  and  the  perpetrator,  is  30 
not  accounted  for,  nor  shown  to  be  elsewhere;  considering 
that  it  is  now  past  all  doubt  that  two  persons  were  seen  lurk 
ing  in  and  about  Brown  Street  at  different  times,  avoiding  ob 
servation,  and  exciting  so  much  suspicion  that  the  neighbors 


Il6     THE   MURDER   OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

actually  watched  them ;  considering  that,  if  these  persons  thus 
lurking  in  Brown  Street  at  that  hour  were  not  the  murderers, 
it  remains  to  this  day  wholly  unknown  who  they  were  or  what 
their  business  was ;  considering  the  testimony  of  Miss  Jaqueth, 
5  and  that  the  club  was  afterwards  found  near  this  place ;  con 
sidering,  finally,  that  Webster  and  Southwick  saw  these  per 
sons,  and  then  took  one  of  them  for  the  defendant,  and  that 
Southwick  then  told  his  wife  so,  and  that  Bray  and  Mirick 
examined  them  closely,  and  now  swear  to  their  belief  that  the 
10  prisoner  was  one  of  them ;  —  it  is  for  you  to  say,  putting  these 
considerations  together,  whether  you  believe  the  prisoner  was 
actually  in  Brown  Street  at  the  time  of  the  murder. 

10 1.  By  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner,  much  stress  has  been 
laid  upon  the  question,  whether  Brown  Street  was  a  place  in 

15  which  aid  could  be  given,  a  place  in  which  actual  assistance 
could  be  rendered  in  this  transaction.  This  must  be  mainly 
decided  by  their  own  opinion  who  selected  the  place;  by  what 
they  thought  at  the  time,  according  to  their  plan  of  operation. 
If  it  was  agreed  that  the  prisoner  should  be  there  to  assist, 

20  it  is  enough.  If  they  thought  the  place  proper  for  their  pur 
pose,  according  to  their  plan,  it  is  sufficient.  Suppose  we  could 
prove  expressly  that  they  agreed  that  Frank  should  be  there, 
and  he  was  there,  and  you  should  think  it  not  a  well-chosen 
place  for  aiding  and  abetting,  must  he  be  acquitted?  No  !  It 

25  is  not  what  /  think  or  you  think  of  the  appropriateness  of  the 

*place ;    it  is  what  they  thought  at  the  time.    If  the  prisoner 

was  in  Brown  Street  by  appointment  and  agreement  with  the 

perpetrator,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  assistance  if  assistance 

should  be  needed,  it  may  safely  be  presumed  that  the  place 

30  was  suited  to  such  assistance  as  it  was  supposed  by  the  parties 
might  chance  to  become  requisite. 

102.  If  in  Brown  Street,  was  he  there  by  appointment?  was 
he  there  to  aid,  if  aid  were  necessary?  was  he  there  for,  or 
against,  the  murderer  ?  to  concur,  or  to  oppose  ?  to  favor  or  tq 


WEBSTER 


117 


thwart?    Did  the  perpetrator  know  he  was  there,  there  waiting? 
If  so,  then  it  follows  that  he  was  there  by  appointment.    He 
was  at  the  post  half  an  hour;  he  was  waiting  for  somebody. 
This  proves  appointment,  arrangement,  previous  agreement; 
then  it  follows  that  he  was  there  to  aid,  to  encourage,  to  em-    5 
bolden  the  perpetrator;  and  that  is  enough.    If  he  were  in 
such  a  situation  as  to  afford  aid,  or  that  he  was  relied  upon  for 
aid,  then  he  was  aiding  and  abetting.    It  is  enough  that  the 
conspirator  desired  to  have  him  there.    Besides,  it  may  be  well 
said  that  he  could  afford  just  as  much  aid  there  as  if  he  had  10 
been  in  Essex  Street,  as  if  he  had  been  standing  even  at  the 
gate,  or  at  the  window.    It  was  not  an  act  of  power  against 
power  that  was  to  be  done  ;  it  was  a  secret  act,  to  be  done  by 
stealth.    The  aid  was  to  be  placed  in  a  position  secure  from 
observation.    It  was  important  to  the  security  of  both  that  he  15 
should  be  in  a  lonely  place.    Now  it  is  obvious  that  there 
are  many  purposes  for  which  he  might  be  in  Brown  Street : 
(i)  Richard  Crowninshield  might  have  been  secreted  in  the 
garden,  and  waiting  for  a  signal ;   (2)  or  he  might  be  in  Brown 
Street  to  advise  him  as  to  the  time  of  making  his  entry  into  20 
the  house  ;  (3)  or  to  favor  his  escape;  (4)  or  to  see  if  the  street    - 
was  clear  when  he  came  out ;   (5)  or  to  conceal  the  weapon  or 
the  clothes ;   (6)  to  be  ready  for  any  unforeseen  contingency. 
Richard  Crowninshield  lived  in  Danvers.    He  would  retire  by 
the  most  secret  way.    Brown  Street  is  that  way.    If  you  find  25 
him  there,  can  you  doubt  why  he  was  there  ? 

103.  If,  Gentlemen,  the  prisoner  went  into  Brown  Street,  by 
appointment  with  the  perpetrator,  to  render  aid  or  encourage 
ment  in  any  of  these  ways,  he  was  present,  in  legal  contempla 
tion,  aiding  and  abetting  in  this  murder.  It  is  not  necessary  30 
that  he  should  have  done  anything ;  it  is  enough  that  he  was 
ready  to  act,  and  in  a  place  to  act.  If  his  being  in  Brown 
Street,  by  appointment,  at  the  time  of  the  murder,  embold 
ened  the  purpose  and  encouraged  the  heart  of  the  murderer 


Il8    THE    MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH.  WHITE 

by  the  hope  of  instant  aid,  if  aid  should  become  necessary, 
then,  without  doubt,  he  was  present,  aiding  and  abetting,  and 
was  a  principal  in  the  murder. 

104.  I  now  proceed,  Gentlemen,  to  the  consideration  of 

5  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Colman.  Although  this  evidence  bears 
on  every  material  part  of  the  cause,  I  have  purposely  avoided 
every  comment  on  it  till  the  present  moment,  when  I  have 
done  with  the  other  evidence  in  the  case.  As  to  the  admis 
sion  of  this  evidence,  there  has  been  a  great  struggle,  and  its 

10  importance  demanded  it.  The  general  rule  of  law  is,  that 
confessions  are  to  be  received  as  evidence.  They  are  entitled 
to  great  or  to  little  consideration,  according  to  the  circum 
stances  under  which  they  are  made.  Voluntary,  deliberate 
confessions  are  the  most  important  and  satisfactory  evidence, 

15  but  confessions  hastily  made,  or  improperly  obtained,  are  en 
titled  to  little  or  no  consideration.  It  is  always  to  be  inquired, 
whether  they  were  purely  voluntary,  or  were  made  under  any 
undue  influence  of  hope  or  fear ;  for,  in  general,  if  any  influ 
ence  were  exerted  on  the  mind  of  the  person  confessing,  such 

20  confessions  are  not  to  be  submitted  to  a  jury.  Who  is  Mr. 
Colman?  He  is  an  intelligent,  accurate,  and  cautious  witness  ; 
a  gentleman  of  high  and  well-known  character,  and  of  un 
questionable  veracity  ;  as  a  clergyman,  highly  respectable  ;  as 
a  man,  of  fair  name  and  fame.  Why  was  Mr.  Colman  with 

25  the  prisoner?  Joseph  Knapp  was  his  parishioner;  he  was  the 
head  of  a  family,  and  had  been  married  by  Mr.  Colman.  The 
interests  of  that  family  were  dear  to  him.  He  felt  for  their 
afflictions,  and  was  anxious  to  alleviate  their  sufferings.  He 
went  from  the  purest  and  best  of  motives  to  visit  Joseph 

30  Knapp.  He  came  to  save,  not  to  destroy;  to  rescue,  not  to 
take  away  life.  In  this  family  he  thought  there  might  be  a 
chance  to  save  one.  It  is  a  misconstruction  of  Mr.  Colman's 
motives,  at  once  the  most  strange  and  the  most  uncharitable, 
a  perversion  of  all  just  views  of  his  conduct  and  intentions  the 


WEBSTER  119 

most  unaccountable,  to  represent  him  as  acting,  on  this  occa 
sion,  in  hostility  to  any  one,  or  as  desirous  of  injuring  or  endan 
gering  any  one.  He  has  stated  his  own  motives,  and  his  own 
conduct,  in  a  manner  to  command  universal  belief  and  universal 
respect.  For  intelligence,  for  consistency,  for  accuracy,  for  5 
caution,  for  candor,  never  did  witness  aquit  himself  better,  or 
stand  fairer.  In  all  that  he  did  as  a  man,  and  all  he  has  said 
as  a  witness,  he  has  shown  himself  worthy  of  entire  regard. 

105.  Now,  Gentlemen,  very  important  confessions  made  by 
the  prisoner  are  sworn  to  by  Mr.  Colman.    They  were  made  10 
in  the  prisoner's  cell,  where  Mr.  Colman  had  gone  with  the 
prisoner's   brother,  Phippen  Knapp.     Whatever  conversation 
took  place  was  in  the  presence  of  Phippen  Knapp.    Now,  on  the 
part  of  the  prisoner,  two  things  are  asserted  ;  first,  that  such 
inducements  were  suggested  to  the  prisoner,  in  this  interview,  15 
that    no    confessions    made  by    him    ought   to  be   received ; 
second,  that,  in  point  of  fact,  he  made  no  such  confessions  as 
Mr.  Colman  testifies   to,  nor,  indeed,  any  confessions  at  all. 
These  two  propositions  are  attempted  to  be  supported  by  the 
testimony  of  Phippen  Knapp.    These  two  witnesses,  Mr.  Col-  20 
man  and  Phippen  Knapp,  differ  entirely.    There  is  no  possi 
bility  of  reconciling  them.    No  charity  can  cover  both.    One 

or  the  other  has  sworn  falsely.    If  Phippen  Knapp  be  believed, 
Mr.  Colman's  testimony  must  be   wholly  disregarded.    It  is, 
then,  a  question  of  credit,  a  question  of  belief  between  the  two  25 
witnesses.    As  you  decide  between  these,  so  you  will  decide 
on  all  this  part  of  the  case. 

1 06.  Mr.  Colman  has  given  you  a  plain  narrative,  a  consistent 
account,  and  has  uniformly  stated  the  same  things.    He  is  not 
contradicted,  except  by  the  testimony  of  Phippen  Knapp.    He  30 
•is  influenced,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  by  no  bias,  or  prejudice,  any 
more  than  other  men,  except  so  far  as  his  character  is  now 

at  stake.    He  has  feelings  on  this  point,  doubtless,  and  ought 
to  have.    If  what  he  has  stated  be  not  true,  I  cannot  see  any 


V20    THE    MURDER    OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH   WHITE 

ground  for  his  escape.  If  he  be  a  true  man,  he  must  have  heard 
what  he  testifies.  No  treachery  of  memory  brings  to  memory 
things  that  never  took  place.  There  is  no  reconciling  his  evi 
dence  with  good  intention,  if  the  facts  in  it  are  not  as  he  states 
5  them.  He  is  on  trial  as  to  his  veracity. 

107.  The  relation  in  which  the  other  witness  stands  deserves 
your  careful  consideration.    He  is  a  member  of  the  family.    He 
has  the  lives  of  two  brothers  depending,  as  he  may  .think,  on  the 
effect  of  his  evidence  ;  depending  on  every  word  he  speaks.    I 

10  hope  he  has  not  another  responsibility  resting  upon  him.  By 
the  advice  of  a  friend,  and  that  friend  Mr.  Colman,  Joseph 
Knapp  made  a  full  and  free  confession,  and  obtained  a  promise 
of  pardon.  He  has  since,  as  you  know,  probably  by  the  advice  of 
other  friends,  retracted  that  confession,  and  rejected  the  offered 

15  pardon.  Events  will  show  who  of  these  friends  and  advisers 
advised  him  best,  and  befriended  him  most.  In  the  mean  time, 
if  this  brother,  the  witness,  be  one  of  these  advisers,  and  ad 
vised  the  retraction,  he  has,  most  emphatically,  the  lives  of 
his  brothers  resting  upon  his  evidence  and  upon  his  conduct. 

20  Compare  the  situation  of  these  two  witnesses.  Do  you  not  see 
mighty  motive  enough  on  the  one  side,  and  want  of  all  motive 
on  the  other?  I  would  gladly  find  an  apology  for  that  witness, 
in  his  agonized  feelings,  in  his  distressed  situation ;  in  the  agi 
tation  of  that  hour,  or  of  this.  I  would  gladly  impute  it  to 

25  error  or  to  want  of  recollection,  to  confusion  of  mind  or  dis 
turbance  of  feeling.  I  would  gladly  impute  to  any  pardonable 
source  that  which  cannot  be  reconciled  to  facts  and  to  truth; 
but,  even  in  a  case  calling  for  so  much  sympathy,  justice  must 
yet  prevail,  and  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion,  however 

30  reluctantly,  which  that  demands  from  us. 

1 08.  It  is  said,  Phippen  Knapp  was  probably  correct,  because 
he  knew  he  should  probably  be  called  as  a  witness.    Witness  to 
what?    When  he  says  there  was  no  confession,  what  could  he  ex 
pect  to  bear  witness  of?    But  I  do  not  put  it  on  the  ground  that 


WEBSTER  121 

he  did  not  hear ;  1  am  compelled  to  put  it  on  the  other  ground, 
that  he  did  hear,  and  does  not  now  truly  tell  what  he  heard. 

109.  If  Mr.  Colman  were  out  of  the  case,  there  are  other 
reasons  why  the  story  of  Phippen  Knapp  should  not  be  believed. 

It  has  in  it  inherent  improbabilities.    It  is  unnatural,  and  incon-    5 
sistent  with  the  accompanying  circumstances.    He  tells  you 
that  they  went  "  to  the  cell  of  Frank,  to  see  if  he  had  any  ob 
jection  to  taking  a  trial,  and  suffering  his  brother  to  accept  the 
offer  of  pardon  " ;  in  other  words,  to  obtain  Frank's  consent  to 
Joseph's  making  a  confession  ;   and  in  case  this  consent  was  not  10 
obtained,  that  the  pardon  would  be  offered  to  Frank.    Did  they 
bandy  about  the  chance  of  life,  between  these  two,  in  this  way? 
Did  Mr.  Colman,  after  having  given  this  pledge  to  Joseph,  and 
after  having  received  a  disclosure  from  Joseph,  go  to  the  cell  of 
Frank  for  such  a  purpose  as  this?    It  is  impossible;  it  cannot  15 
be  so. 

1 10.  Again,  we  know  that  Mr.  Colman  found  the  club  the  next 
day ;  that  he  went  directly  to  the  place  of  deposit,  and  found  it 
at  the  first  attempt,  exactly  where  he  says  he  had  been  informed 

it  was.    Now  Phippen  Knapp  says  that  Frank  had  stated  noth-  20 
ing  respecting  the  club;   that  it  was  not  mentioned  in  that 
conversation.    He  says,  also,  that  he  was  present  in  the  cell  of 
Joseph  all  the  time  that  Mr.  Colman  was  there;   that  he  be 
lieves  he  heard  all  that  was  said  in  Joseph's  cell ;  and  that  he 
did  not  himself  know  where  the  club  was,  and  never  had  known  25 
where  it  was,  until  he  heard  it  stated  in  court.    Now  it  is  cer 
tain  that  Mr.  Colman  says  he  did  not  learn  the  particular  place 
of  deposit  of  the  club  from  Joseph  ;   that  he  only  learned  from 
him  that  it  was  deposited  under  the  steps  of  the  Howard  Street 
meeting-house,  without  defining  the  particular  steps.    It  is  cer-  30 
tain,  also,  that  he  had  more  knowledge  of  the  position  of  the 
club  than  this ;  else  how  could  he  have  placed  his  hand  on  it  so 
readily  ?  and  where  else  could  he  have  obtained  this  knowledge, 
except  from  Frank? 


122    THE   MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

in.  My  point  is  to  show  that  Phippen  Knapp's  story  is  not 
true,  is  not  consistent  with  itself ;  that,  taking  it  for  granted,  as 
he  says,  that  he  heard  all  that  was  said  to  Mr.  Colman  in  both 
cells,  by  Joseph  and  by  Frank ;  and  that  Joseph  did  not  state 
5  particularly  where  the  club  was  deposited ;  and  that  he  knew 
as  much  about  the  place  of  deposit  of  the  club  as  Mr.  Colman 
knew ;  why,  then  Mr.  Colman  must  either  have  been  miracu 
lously  informed  respecting  the  club,  or  Phippen  Knapp  has 
not  told  you  the  whole  truth.  There  is  no  reconciling  this, 
10  without  supposing  that  Mr.  Colman  has  misrepresented  what 
took  place  in  Joseph's  cell,  as  well  as  what  took  place  in 
Frank's  cell. 

112.  Again,  Phippen  Knapp  is  directly  contradicted  by  Mr. 
Wheatland.     Mr.  Wheatland   tells  the  same   story,  as  coming 

15  from  Phippen  Knapp,  that  Colman  now  tells.  Here  there  are 
two  against  one.  Phippen  Knapp  says  that  Frank  made  no 
confessions,  and  that  he  said  he  had  none  to  make.  In  this 
he  is  contradicted  by  Wheatland.  He,  Phippen  Knapp,  told 
Wheatla'nd  that  Mr.  Colman  did  ask  Frank  some  questions, 

20  and  that  Frank  answered  them.  He  told  him  also  what  these 
answers  were.  Wheatland  does  not  recollect  the  questions  or 
answers,  but  recollects  his  reply,  which  was,  "  Is  not  this 
premature  ?  I  think  this  answer  is  sufficient  to  make  Frank  a 
principal."  Here  Phippen  Knapp  opposes  himself  to  Wheat- 

25  land,  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Colman.  Do  you  believe  Phippen 
Knapp  against  these  two  respectable  witnesses,  or  them  against 
him? 

113.  Is  not  Mr.  Colman's  testimony  credible,  natural,  and 
proper?    To  judge  of  this,  you  must  go  back  to  that  scene. 

30  114.  The  murder  had  been  committed;  the  two  Knapps  were 
now  arrested ;  four  persons  were  already  in  jail  supposed  to  be 
concerned  in  it,  the  Crowninshields,  and  Selman,  and  Chase. 
Another  person  at  the  eastward  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  plot ; 
it  was  important  to  learn  the  facts.  To  do  this,  some  one  of 


WEBSTER  123 

those   suspected  must  be   admitted  to   turn  state's  witness. 
The  contest  was,  Who  should  have  this  privilege?    It  was  un 
derstood  that  it  was  about  to  be  offered  to  Palmer,  then  in 
Maine ;  there  was  no  good  reason  why  he  should  have  the  ' 
preference.    Mr.  Colman  felt  interested  for  the  family  of  the    5 
Knapps,  and  particularly  for  Joseph.    He  was  a  young  man 
who  had  hitherto  maintained  a  fair  standing  in  society;  he 
was  a  husband.    Mr.  Colman  was  particularly  intimate  with  his 
family.    With  these  views  he  went'  to  the  prison.    He  believed 
that  he  might  safely  converse  with  the  prisoner,  because  he  10 
thought  confessions  made  to  a  clergyman  were  sacred,  and  that 
he  could  not  be  called  upon  to  disclose  them.    He  went,  the 
first  time,  in  the  morning,  and  was  requested  to  come  again. 
He  went  again  at  three  o'clock;   and  was  requested  to  call 
again  at  five  o'clock.    In  the  mean  time  he  saw  the  father  and  15 
Phippen,  and  they  wished  he  would  not  go  again,  because  it 
would  be  said  the  prisoners  were  making  confessions.    He  said 
he  had  engaged  to  go  again  at  five  o'clock,  but  would  not,  if 
Phippen  would  excuse  him  to  Joseph.    Phippen  engaged  to  do 
this,  and  to  meet  him  at  his  office  at  five  o'clock.    Mr.  Colman  20 
went  to  the  office  at  the  time,  and  waited ;  but,  as  Phippen 
was  not  there,  he  walked  down  street,  and  saw  him  coming 
from  the  jail.    He  met  him,  and  while  in  conversation  near 
the  church,  he  saw  Mrs.  Beckford  and  Mrs.  Knapp  going  in  a 
chaise  towards  the  jail.    He  hastened  to  meet  them,  as  he  25 
thought  it  not  proper  for  them  to  go  in  at  that  time.    While 
conversing   with    them    near    the  jail,   he    received   two   dis 
tinct  messages  from  Joseph,  that  he  wished  to  see  him.    He 
thought  it  proper  to  go  ;  and  accordingly  went  to  Joseph's  cell, 
and  it  was  while  there  that  the  disclosures  were  made.    Before  30 
Joseph  had  finished  his  statement,  Phippen  came  to  the  door; 
he  was  soon  after  admitted.    A  short  interval  ensued,  and  they 
went  together  to  the  cell  of  Frank.    Mr.  Colman  went  in  by 
invitation  of  Phippen ;  he  had  come  directly  from  the  cell  of 


124    THE   MURDER   OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

Joseph,  where  he  had  for  the  first  time  learned  the  incidents 
of  the  tragedy.  He  was  incredulous  as  to  some  of  the  facts 
which  he  had  learned,  they  were  so  different  from  his  previous 
impressions.  He  was  desirous  of  knowing  whether  he  could 

5  place  confidence  in  what  Joseph  had  told  him.  He  therefore 
put  the  questions  to  Frank,  as  he  has  testified  before  you ;  in 
answer  to  which  Frank  Knapp- informed  him,  —  (i)  "  that  the 
murder  took  place  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  ";  (2)  "  that 
Richard  Crowninshield  was  alone  in  the  house  ";  (3)  "  that  he, 

10  Frank  Knapp,  went  home  afterwards  ";  (4)  "  that  the  club  was 
deposited  under  the  steps  of  the  Howard  Street  meeting-house, 
and  under  the  part  nearest  the  burying- ground,  in  a  rat-hole  "; 
(5)  "that  the  dagger  or  daggers  had  been  worked  up  at  the 
factory." 

15  115.  It  is  said  that  these  five  answers  just  fit  the  case ;  that 
they  are  just  what  was  wanted,  and  neither  more  nor  less.  True, 
they  are ;  but  the  reason  is,  because  truth  always  fits.  Truth  is 
always  congruous,  and  agrees  with  itself;  every  truth  in  the 
universe  agrees  v/ith  every  other  truth  in  the  universe ;  whereas 

20  falsehoods  not  only  disagree  with  truths,  but  usually  quarrel 
among  themselves.  Surely  Mr.  Colman  is  influenced  by  no 
bias,  no  prejudice ;  he  has  no  feelings  to  warp  him,  except, 
now  that  he  is  contradicted,  he  may  feel  an  interest  to  be 
believed.  If  you  believe  Mr.  Colman,  then  the  evidence  is 

25  fairly  in  the  case. 

1 1 6.  I  shall  now  proceed  on  the  ground  that  you  do  believe 
Mr.  Colman. 

117.  When  told  that  Joseph  had  determined  to  confess,  the 
defendant  said,  "  It  is  hard,  or  unfair,  that  Joseph  should  have 

30  the  benefit  of  confessing,  since  the  thing  was  done  for  his 
benefit."  What  thing  was  done  for  his  benefit?  Does  not  this 
carry  an  implication  of  the  guilt  of  the  defendant?  Does  it 
not  show  that  he  had  a  knowledge  of  the  object  and  history  of 
the  murder? 


WEBSTER 


125 


1 1 8.  The  defendant  said, "  I  told  Joseph,  when  he  proposed  it, 
that  it  was  a  silly  business,  and  would  get  us  into  trouble."    He 
knew,  then,  what  this  business  was ;  he  knew  that  Joseph  pro 
posed  it,  and  that  he  agreed  to  it,  else  he  could  not  get  us  into 
trouble;  he  understood  its  bearing  and  its  consequences.    Thus    5 
much  was  said,  under  circumstances  that  make  it  clearly  evi 
dence  against  him,  before  there  is  any  pretense  of  an  induce 
ment  held  out.    And  does  not  this  prove  him  to  have  had  a 
knowledge  of  the  conspiracy? 

119.  He  knew  the  daggers  had  been  destroyed,  and  he  knew  10 
who  committed  the  murder.    How  could  he  have  innocently 
known  these  facts?    Why,  if  by  Richard's  story,  this  shows  him 
guilty  of  a  knowledge  of  the  murder,  and  of  the  conspiracy. 
More  than  all,  he  knew  when  the  deed  was  done,  and  that  he 
went  home  afterwards.  This  shows  his  participation  in  that  deed.  15 
"Went  home  afterwards"  !    Home,  from  what  scene?  home, 
from  what  fact?   home,  from  what  transaction?  home,  from 
what  place?    This  confirms  the  supposition  that  the  prisoner 
was  in  Brown  Street  for  the  purposes  ascribed  to  him.    These 
questions  were  directly  put,  and  directly  answered.    He  does  20 
not  intimate  that  he  received  the  information  from  another. 
Now,  if  he  knows  the  time,  and  went  home  afterwards,  and 
does  not  excuse  himself,  is  not  this  an  admission  that  he  had 

a  hand  in  this  murder?  Already  proved  to  be  a  conspirator  in 
the  murder,  he  now  confesses  that  he  knew  who  did  it,  at  what  25 
time  it  was  done,  that  he  was  himself  out  of  his  own  house  at 
the  time,  and  went  home  afterwards.  Is  not  this  conclusive, 
if  not  explained?  Then  comes  the  club.  He  told  where  it 
was.  This  is  like  possession  of  stolen  goods.  He  is  charged 
with  the  guilty  knowledge  of  this  concealment.  He  must  show,  30 
not  say,  how  he  came  by  this  knowledge.  If  a  man  be  found 
with  stolen  goods,  he  must  prove  how  he  came  by  them.  The 
place  of  deposit  of  the  club  was  premeditated  and  selected,  and 
he  knew  where  it  was. 


126    THE   MURDER  OF   CAPTAIN   JOSEPH  WHITE 

120.  Joseph  Knapp  was  an  accessory,  and  an  accessory  only ; 
he  knew  only  what  was  told  him.    But  the  prisoner  knew  the 
particular  spot  in  which  the  club  might  be  found.   This  shows 
his  knowledge  something  more  than  that  of  an  accessory.   This 

5  presumption  must  be  rebutted  by  evidence,  or  it  stands  strong 
against  him.  He  has  too  much  knowledge  of  this  transaction 
to  have  come  innocently  by  it.  It  must  stand  against  him  until 
he  explains  it. 

121.  This  testimony  of  Mr.  Colman  is  represented  as  new 
10  matter,  and  therefore  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  excite  a 

prejudice  against  it.  It  is  not  so.  How  little  is  there  in  it, 
after  all,  that  did  not  appear  from  other  sources  ?  It  is  mainly 
confirmatory.  Compare  what  you  learn  from  this  confession 
with  what  you  before  knew.  As  to  its  being  proposed  by 

15  Joseph,  was  not  that  known?  As  to  Richard's  being  alone  in 
the  house,  was  not  that  known?  As  to  the  daggers,  was  not 
that  known?  As  to  the  time  of  the  murder,  was  not  that 
known  ?  As  to  his  being  out  that  night,  was  not  that  known  ? 
As  to  his  returning  afterwards,  was  not  that  known?  As  to 

20  the  club,  was  not  that  known?  So  this  information  confirms 
what  was  known  before,  and  fully  confirms  it. 

122.  One  word  as  to  the  interview  between  Mr.  Colman  and 
Phippen  Knapp  on  the  turnpike.    It  is  said  that  Mr.  Colman's 
conduct   in  this  matter  is  inconsistent  with    his   testimony. 

25  There  does  not  appear  to  me  to  be  any  inconsistency.  He 
tells  you  that  his  object  was  to  save  Joseph,  and  to  hurt  no 
one,  and  least  of  all  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  He  had  probably 
told  Mr.  White  the  substance  of  what  he  heard  at  the  prison. 
He  had  probably  told  him  that  Frank  confirmed  what  Joseph 

30  had  confessed.  He  was  unwilling  to  be  the  instrument  of 
harm  to  Frank.  He  therefore,  at  the  request  of  Phippen 
Knapp,  wrote  a  note  to  Mr.  White,  requesting  him  to  consider 
Joseph  as  authority  for  the  information  he  had  received.  He 
tells  you  that  this  is  the  only  thing  he  has  to  regret,  as  it 


WEBSTER  127 

may  seem  to  be  an  evasion,  as  he  doubts  whether  it  is  en 
tirely  correct.  If  it  was  an  evasion,  if  it  was  a  deviation,  if 
it  was  an  error,  it  was  an  error  of  mercy,  an  error  of  kind 
ness,  —  an  error  that  proves  he  had  no  hostility  to  the  pris 
oner  at  the  bar.  It  does  not  in  the  least  vary  his  testimony,  5 
or  affect  its  correctness.  Gentlemen,  I  look  on  the  evidence 
of  Mr.  Colman  as  highly  important;  not  as  bringing  into 
the  cause  new  facts,  but  as  confirming,  in  a  very  satisfactory 
manner,  other  evidence.  It  is  incredible  that  he  can  be  false, 
and  that  he  is  seeking  the  prisoner's  life  through  false  swear-  10 
ing.  If  he  is  true,  it  is  incredible  that  the  prisoner  can  be 
innocent. 

123.  Gentlemen,  I  have  gone  through  with  the  evidence  in 
this  case,  and  have  endeavored  to  state  it  plainly  and  fairly 
before  you.    I  think  there  are  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  it,  15 
the  accuracy  of  which  you  cannot  doubt.    I  think  you  can 
not  doubt  that  there  was  a  conspiracy  formed  for  the  purpose 

of  committing  this  murder,  and  who  the  conspirators  were ; 
that  you  cannot  doubt  that  the  Crowninshields  and  the 
Knapps  were  the  parties  in  this  conspiracy ;  that  you  cannot  20 
doubt  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  knew  that  the  murder  was 
to  be  done  on  the  night  of  the  6th  of  April ;  that  you  cannot 
doubt  that  the  murderers  of  Captain  White  were  the  suspicious 
persons  seen  in  and  about  Brown  Street  on  that  night ;  that 
you  cannot  doubt  that  Richard  Crowninshield  was  the  perpe-  25 
trator  of  that  crime ;  that  you  cannot  doubt  that  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar  was  in  Brown  Street  on  that  night.  If  there,  then 
it  must  be  by  agreement,  to  countenance,  to  aid  the  perpetra 
tor.  And  if  so,  then  he  is  guilty  as  PRINCIPAL. 

124.  Gentlemen,  your  whole  concern  should  be  to  do  your  30 
duty,  and  leave  consequences  to  take  care  of  themselves.  You 
will  receive  the  law  from  the  court.    Your  verdict,  it  is  true, 
may  endanger  the  prisoner's  life,  but  then  it  is  to  save  other 
lives.     If  the  prisoner's   guilt  has  been  shown  and  proved 


128    THE   MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE 

beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  you  will  convict  him.  If  such 
reasonable  doubts  of  guilt  still  remain,  you  will  acquit  him. 
You  are  the  judges  of  the  whole  case.  You  owe  a  duty  to  the 
public,  as  well  as  to  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  You  cannot  pre- 
5  sume  to  be  wiser  than  the  law.  Your  duty  is  a  plain,  straight 
forward  one.  Doubtless  we  would  all  judge  him  in  mercy. 

.  Towards  him,  as  an  individual,  the  law  inculcates  no  hostility ; 
but  towards  him,  if  proved  to  be  a  murderer,  the  law,  and  the 
oaths  you  have  taken,  and  public  justice,  demand  that  you 

10  do  your  duty. 

125.  With  consciences  satisfied  with  the  discharge  of  duty, 
no  consequences  can  harm  you.  There  is  no  evil  that  we  can 
not  either  face  or  fly  from,  but  the  consciousness  of  duty 
disregarded.  A  sense  of  duty  pursues  us  ever.  It  is  omni- 

15  present,  like  the  Deity.  If  we  take  to  ourselves  the  wings  of 
the  morning,  and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea,  duty 
performed,  or  duty  violated,  is  still  with  us,  for  our  happiness 
or  our  misery.  If  we  say  the  darkness  shall  cover  us,  in  the 
darkness  as  in  the  light  our  obligations  are  yet  with  us.  We 

20  cannot  escape  their  power,  nor  fly  from  their  presence.  They 
are  with  us  in  this  life,  will  be  with  us  at  its  close  ;  and  in  that 
scene  of  inconceivable  solemnity  which  lies  yet  farther  on 
ward,  we  shall  still  find  ourselves  surrounded  by  the  conscious 
ness  of  duty,  to  pain  us  wherever  it  has  been  violated,  and  to 

25  console  us  so  far  as  God  may  have  given  us  grace  to  per 
form  it. 


"A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF 
CANNOT  STAND" 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

A  SPEECH  OF  ACCEPTANCE  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  NOMINATION 
FOR  UNITED  STATES  SENATOR  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS, 
JUNE  17,  1858. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  biography  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  up  to  the  time  that  he  be 
came  a  figure  of  national  importance,  may  best  be  told  in  his  own 
words.  Answering  one  who,  in  1859,  had  asked  him  for  some  bio 
graphic  particulars,  Lincoln  wrote : 

"I  was  born  February  12,  1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky. 
My  parents  were  both  born  in  Virginia,  of  undistinguished  fami 
lies.  My  mother,  who  died  in  my  tenth  year,  was  of  a  family  of 
the  name  of  Hanks.  My  father  (Thomas  Lincoln),  by  the  early 
death  of  his  father,  and  the  very  narrow  circumstances  of  his 
mother,  was,  even  in  childhood,  a  wandering,  laboring  boy,  and 
grew  up  literally  without  education.  He  never  did  more  in  the  way 
of  writing  than  bunglingly  to  write  his  own  name.  He  removed 
from  Kentucky  to  what  is  now  Spencer  County,  Indiana,  in  my 
eighth  year.  It  was  a  wild  region,  with  many  bears  and  other  ani 
mals  still  in  the  woods.  There  were  some  schools,  so-called,  but 
no  qualification  was  ever  required  of  a  teacher  beyond  '  readin', 
writin',  and  cipherin'  to  the  Rule  of  Three'.  If  a  straggler  sup 
posed  to  understand  Latin  happened  to  sojourn  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  wizard.  Of  course,  when  I  came 
of  age  I  did  not  know  much.  Still,  somehow  I  could  read,  write, 
and  cipher  to  the  Rule  of  Three.  The  little  advance  I  now  have 
upon  this  store  of  education  I  have  picked  up  from  time  to  time 
under  the  pressure  of  necessity. 

129 


130  DIVIDED   HOUSE   SPEECH 

"  I  was  raised  to  farm  work  till  I  was  twenty-two.  At  twenty- 
one  I  came  to  Illinois,  Macon  County.  Then  I  got  to  New  Salem, 
where  I  remained  a  year  as  a  sort  of  clerk  in  a  store.  Then  came 
the  Black  Hawk  War  and  I  was  elected  captain  of  a  volunteer 
regiment,  a  success  that  gave  me  more  pleasure  than  any  I  have 
had  since.  I  went  the  campaign,  was  elated,  ran  for  the  legislature 
the  same  year  (1832),  and  was  beaten  —  the  only  time  I  ever  have 
been  beaten  by  the  people.  The  next,  and  three  succeeding  bien 
nial  elections,  I  was  elected  to  the  legislature.  I  was  not  a  candi 
date  afterward.  During  the  legislative  period  I  had  studied  law 
and  removed  to  Springfield  to  practice  it.  In  1846  I  was  elected  to 
the  lower  house  of  Congress.  Was  not  a  candidate  for  reelection. 
From  1849  to  1854,  inclusive,  practiced  law  more  assiduously 
than  ever  before,  was  always  a  Whig  in  politics,  and  generally 
on  the  Whig  electoral  tickets,  making  active  canvasses.  I  was 
losing  interest  in  politics  when  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  aroused  me  again. 

"  If  any  personal  description  of  me  is  thought  desirable,  it  may 
be  said  that  I  am  in  height  six  feet  four  inches,  nearly ;  lean  in 
flesh,  weighing  on  an  average  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds; 
dark  complexion,  with  coarse  black  hair  and  gray  eyes.  No  other 
marks  or  brands  recollected." 

In  1858  Lincoln  may  be  said  to  have  taken  up  the  slavery  ques 
tion  where  Webster  left  it  in  his  speech  of  March  7,  1850.  Though 
Lincoln,  in  the  quotation  above,  speaks  of  the  period  from  1849  to 
1854  as  one  of  political  inactivity,  it  seems  to  have  been  utilized 
by  him  as  a  period  of  preparation  for  his  great  work,  and  the 
result  is  enunciated  in  the  speech  in  this  volume.  The  issue,  as 
defined  by  him  in  this  speech,  —  though  Lincoln,  with  many  states 
men  on  both  sides,  tried  to  effect  a  peaceable  settlement,  —  was 
fought  out  in  the  Civil  War. 

When  Lincoln  was  assassinated  (April  14,  1865)  he  was  the  idol 
of  a  section.  With  the  passing  of  time  he  has  come  to  be  looked 
upon  as  the  national  man-type,  so  that  the  poetic  eulogy  of  Lowell 
is  applicable  now  in  a  fuller  sense  than  when  it  was  first  written. 

Standing  like  a  tower, 
Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 


LINCOLN  131 

Although  Lincoln  is  chiefly  remembered  as  a  statesman  rather 
than  as  an  orator,  he  nevertheless  wielded  a  tremendous  influence 
through  his  speeches.  This  must  be  attributed  to  the  matter  and 
style  of  his  address  rather  than  to  any  so-called  arts  of  delivery. 
As  to  the  latter,  he  was  a  "natural  orator,"  owing  as  little  to 
books  and  teachers  as  any  man  of  equal  eminence.  He  had  a 
falsetto  and  not  particularly  strong  voice,  a  plain  and  unimpas- 
sioned  delivery,  an  awkward  and  ungainly  carriage,  and  yet  he 
convinced  and  persuaded  his  hearers  by  his  clear,  simple  state 
ments,  homespun  diction,  and  intense  moral  earnestness.  Lincoln's 
style,  from  the  standpoints  of  clearness  and  simplicity,  may  well 
be  studied  by  any  one  who  expects  to  address  a  popular  audience. 
He  learned  the  art  of  putting  things  to  an  average  American  audi 
ence  as  few  political  speakers  have  acquired  it.  "  His  happy  state 
ment  of  a  case  was  better  than  most  men's  argument."  Yet  more 
than  Webster,  far  more  than  Burke,  his  style  is  marked  by  great 
simplicity.  There  is  no  needless  amplification  or  "  excursus."  Take 
the  speech  in  this  volume,  for  example.  Condensation  is  impossible. 
Not  a  paragraph  —  if  indeed  a  word  —  could  be  omitted  without 
taking  away  something  vital  to  the  discussion.  It  is  solid 'argument, 
as  sententious  and  axiomatic  as  if  made  to  a  bench  of  jurists. 

Regarding  his  training  in  attaining  clearness  of  statement,  Lin 
coln  once  said  to  a  friend :  "  I  remember  how,  when  a  mere  child, 
I  used  to  get  irritated  when  anybody  talked  to  me  in  a  way  I  could 
not  understand.  I  don't  think  I  ever  got  angry  at  anything  else  in 
my  life.  But  that  always  disturbed  my  temper,  and  has  ever  since. 
I  can  remember  going  to  my  bedroom,  after  hearing  the  neighbors 
talk  of  an  evening  with  my  father,  and  spending  no  small  part  of 
the  night  walking  up  and  down,  and  trying  to  make  out  what  was 
the  meaning  of  some  of  their,  to  me,  dark  sayings.  I  could  not 
sleep,  though  I  often  tried  to,  when  I  got  on  such  a  hunt  after  an 
idea,  until  I  had  caught  it ;  and  when  I  thought  I  had  got  it,  I  was 
not  satisfied  until  I  had  repeated  it  over  and  over,  until  I  had  put 
it  in  language  plain  enough,  as  I  thought,  for  any  boy  I  knew  to 
comprehend.  This  was  a  kind  of  passion  with  me,  and  it  has 
stuck  by  me,  for  I  am  never  easy  now,  when  I  am  handling  a 
thought,  till  I  have  bounded  it  north  and  bounded  it  south  and 
bounded  it  east  and  bounded  it  west." 

The  "  Divided  House  "  Speech  was  delivered  in  the  Statehouse 
at  Springfield,  Illinois,  on  the  evening  of  April  17,  1858,  at  the 


132  DIVIDED   HOUSE   SPEECH 

close  of  the  Republican  State  Convention  held  at  that  time  and 
place,  the  convention  having  unanimously  passed  a  resolution 
which  declared  that  "Abraham  Lincoln  is  our  first  and  only 
choice  for  United  States  Senator  as  the  successor  of  Stephen  A. 
Douglas."  Lincoln  had  expected  the  nomination,  and  for  a  long 
time  previously  had  been  working  on  his  speech  of  acceptance.  It 
was  no  doubt  the  most  carefully  prepared  speech  of  his  whole  life. 
Every  word  of  it  was  written,  every  sentence  had  been  tested.  In 
the  process  of  composition  it  is  said  l  that  he  ceaselessly  turned 
over  the  subject-matter  in  his  mind,  frequently  stopping  short  to 
jot  an  idea  or  expression  upon  some  scrap  of  paper,  which  he  then 
thrust  into  his  hat.  Thus,  piece  by  piece,  the  accumulation  grew 
alike  inside  and  outside  of  his  head,  and  at  last  he  took  all  his 
fragments  and  with  infinite  consideration  molded  them  into  unity. 
By  the  time  of  delivery  he  had  committed  the  whole  speech  accu 
rately  to  memory,  and  it  was  spoken  without  manuscript  or  notes. 
The  evening  of  the  day  previous  to  its  delivery  he  had  produced 
the  finished  manuscript  and  read  the  opening  paragraph  to  his 
law  partner,  Mr.  HerndOn.  "  Is  it  politic,"  Mr.  Herndon  asked,  "  to 
speak  it  as  it  is  written  ?  "  referring  to  the  expression,  «  A  house 
divided  against  itself  cannot  stand."  Lincoln  answered,  "  I  want 
to  use  some  universally  known  figure!,  expressed  in  simple  language 
as  universally  known,  that  may  strike  home  to  the  minds  of  men  in 
order  to  rouse  them  to  the  peril  of  the  times.  I  would  rather  be 
defeated  with  this  expression  in  the  speech,  and  have  it  held  up 
and  discussed  before  the  people,  than  to  be  victorious  without  it." 
Other  close  political  friends  were  called  in  council.  They  thought 
his  utterance  impolitic  and  sure  to  lead  to  his  defeat.  Lincoln 
heard  them  patiently  and  then  said : 

"  Friends,  I  have  thought  about  the  matter  a  great  deal,  have 
weighed  the  question  well  from  all  corners,  and  am  thoroughly 
convinced  that  the  time  has  come  when  it  should  be  uttered,  and 
if  it  must  be  that  I  must  go  down  with  this  speech,  then  let  me  go 
down  linked  to  truth,  die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  just  and  right. 
This  nation  cannot  live  on  injustice.  '  A  house  divided  against 
itself  cannot  stand,'  I  say  again  and  again." 

The  speech  was  given  in  the  original  form,  and  events  soon 
proved  the  importance  of  Lincoln's  painstaking  preparation.  It 

i  Morse,  Abraham  Lincoln  (American  Statesman  Series),  Vol.  I, 
p.  117. 


LINCOLN  133 

was  at  once  subjected  to  a  dissection  and  criticism'  such  as  do  not 
often  follow  the  winged  words  of  the  orator.  And  this  because  it 
contained  a  plain  statement  of  a  truth  which  all  politicians  and 
many  statesmen,  both  North  and  South,  were  attempting  to  stamp 
down  as  an  untruth.  Politically,  too,  the  speech  proved  to  be  the 
first  step  in  Lincoln's  progress  to  the  White  House.  Mr.  Chitten- 
den,  in  his  compilation  of  Lincoln's  speeches,  says  that  the  fol 
lowing  speech,  "  whether  judged  by  its  intrinsic  qualities  or  by 
its  influence  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  Republic,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  of  all  political  documents  since  the  Declaration  of 
Independence." 

1.  MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION: 
If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  and  whither  we  are  tend 
ing,  we  could  better  judge  what  to  do,  and  how  to  do  it.    We 
are  now  far  into  the  fifth  year  since  a  policy  was  initiated  with 
the  avowed  object,  and  confident  promise,  of  putting  an  end    5 
to  slavery  agitation.    Under  the  operation  of  that  policy,  that 
agitation  has  not  only  not  ceased,  but  has  constantly  aug 
mented.     In  my  opinion,  it  will  not  cease  until  a  crisis  shall 
have  been  reached  and   passed.    "A   house   divided   against 
itself  cannot  stand."    I  believe  this  government  cannot  endure  10 
permanently  half  slave  and  half  free.    I  do  not  expect  the 
Union  to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall  — 
but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.    It  will  become  all 
one  thing,  or  all  the  other.    Either  the  opponents  of  slavery 
will  arrest  the  further   spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  15 
public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  dn  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction ;  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward,  till 

it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  states,  old  as  well  as  new 
—  North  as  well  as  South. 

2.  Have  we  no  tendency  to  the  latter  condition?    Let  any-  20 
one  who  doubts,  carefully  contemplate  that  now  almost  com 
plete  legal  combination  —  piece  of  machinery,  so  to  speak  — 
compounded  of    the  Nebraska  doctrine  and  the  Dred  Scott 
decision.    Let  him  consider  not  only  what  work  the  machinery 


134  DIVIDED   HOUSE   SPEECH 

is  adapted  to  do,  and  how  well  adapted ;  but  also,  let  him 
study  the  history  of  its  construction,  and  trace,  if  he  can, 
or  rather  fail,  if  he  can,  to  trace  the  evidences  of  design, 
and  concert  of  action,  among  its  chief  architects,  from  the 
5  beginning. 

3.  The  new  year  of  1854  found  slavery  excluded  from  more 
than  half  the  states  by  state  constitutions,  and  from  most  of 
the    national    territory   by    Congressional    prohibition.     Four 
days  later,  commenced  the  struggle  which  ended  in  repealing 

10  that  Congressional  prohibition.  This  opened  all  the  national 
territory  to  slavery,  and  was  the  first  point  gained. 

4.  But,  so  far,  Congress  only  had  acted  ;  and  an  indorsement 
by  the  people,  real  or  apparent,  was  indispensable,  to  save  the 
point  already  gained,  and  give  chance  for  more.    This  neces- 

15  sity  had  not  been  overlooked;  but  had  been  provided  for,  as 
well  as  might  be,  in  the  notable  argument  of  "  squatter  sover 
eignty,"  otherwise  called  "sacred  right  of  self-government/^ 
which  latter  phrase,  though  expressive  of  the  only  rightful 
basis  of  any  government,  was  so  perverted  in  this  attempted 

20  use  of  it  as  to  amount  to  just  this  :  That  if  any  one  man 
choose  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  shall  be  allowed  to 
object.  That  argument  was  incorporated  into  the  Nebraska 
bill  itself,  in  the  language  which  follows  :  "  It  being  the  true 
intent  and  meaning  of  this  act  not  to  legislate  slavery  into  any 

25  territory  or  state,  nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom ;  but  to  leave 
the  people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regulate  their 
domestic  institutions  in  their  own  way,  subject  only  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States."  Then  opened  the  roar  of 
loose  declamation  in  favor  of  "  squatter  sovereignty,"  and 

30  "sacred  right  of  self-government."  "But,"  said  opposition 
members,  "let  us  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  expressly  declare 
that  the  people  of  the  territory  may  exclude  slavery."  "  Not 
we,"  said  the  friends  of  the  measure ;  and  down  they  voted 
the  amendment. 


LINCOLN 


135 


5.  While  the  Nebraska  bill  was  passing  through  Congress,  a 
law  case  involving  the  question  of  a  negro's  freedom,  by  reason 
of  his  owner  having  voluntarily  taken  him  first  into  a  free  state 
and  then  into  a  territory  covered  by  the  Congressional  pro 
hibition,  and  held  him  as  a  slave  for  a  long  time  in  each,  was  5 
passing  through  the  United  States  Circuit  Court  for  the  Dis 
trict  of  Missouri ;  and  both  Nebraska  bill  and  law  suit  were 
brought  to  a  decision  in  the  same  month  of  May,  1854.  The 
negro's  name  was  "  Dred  Scott,"  which  name  now  designates 
the  decision  finally  made  in  the  case.  Before  the  then  next  10 
presidential  election,  the  law  case  came  to,  and  was  argued  in, 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States ;  but  the  decision  of  it 
was  deferred  until  after  the  election.  Still,  before  the  election, 
Senator  Trumbull,  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  requested  the 
leading  advocate  of  the  Nebraska  bill  to  state  his  opinion  15 
whether  the  people  of  a  territory  can  constitutionally  exclude 
slavery  from  their  limits ;  and  the  latter  answers  :  "  That  is  a 
question  for  the  Supreme  Court." 

6.  The  election  came.    Mr.  Buchanan  was  elected,  and  the 
indorsement,  such  as  it  was,  secured.    That  was  the  second  20 
point  gained.    The  indorsement,  however,  fell  short  of  a  clear 
popular  majority  by  nearly  four  hundred  thousand  votes,  and 
so,  perhaps,  was  not  overwhelmingly  reliable  and  satisfactory. 
The  outgoing  President,  in  his  last  annual  message,  as  impres 
sively  as  possible  echoed  back  upon  the  people  the  weight  and  25 
authority  of  the  indorsement.    The  Supreme  Court  met  again ; 
did  not  announce  their  decision,  but  ordered  a  re-argument. 
The  presidential  inauguration  came,  and  still  no  decision  of 
the  court;  but  the  incoming  President  in  his  inaugural  address 
fervently  exhorted  the  people  to  abide  by  the  forthcoming  de-  30 
cision,  whatever  it  might  be.    Then,  in  a  few  days,  came  the 
decision. 

7-  The  reputed  author  of  the  Nebraska  bill  finds  an 'early 
occasion  to  make  a  speech  at  this  capital  indorsing  the  Dred 


136  DIVIDED   HOUSE   SPEECH 

Scott  decision,  and  vehemently  denouncing  all  opposition  to 
it.  The  new  President,  too,  seizes  the  early  occasion  of  the 
Silliman  letter  to  indorse  and  strongly  construe  that  decision, 
and  to  express  his  astonishment  that  any  different  view  had 
5  ever  been  entertained  ! 

8.  At  length  a  squabble  springs  up  between  the  President 
and  the  author  of  the  Nebraska  bill,  on  the  mere  question  of 
fact,  whether  the  Lecompton  Constitution  was  or  was  not,  in 
any  just  sense,  made  by  the  people  of  Kansas;  and  in  that 

10  quarrel  the  latter  declares  that  all  he  wants  is  a  fair  vote  for 
the  people,  and  that  he  cares  not  whether  slavery  be  voted 

•  down  or  voted  up.  I  do  not  understand  his  declaration  that 
he  cares  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or  voted  up,  to 
be  intended  by  him  other  than  as  an  apt  definition  of  the 

15  policy  he  would  impress  upon  the  public  mind  —  the  principle 
for  which  he  declares  he  has  suffered  so  much,  and  is  ready  to 
suffer  to  the  end.  And  well  may  he  cling  to  that  principle. 
If  he  has  any  parental  feeling,  well  may  he  cling  to  it.  That 
principle  is  the  only  shred  left  of  his  original  Nebraska  doc- 

20  trine.  Under  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  "  squatter  sovereignty" 
squatted  out  of  existence,  tumbled  down  like  temporary  scaf 
folding —  like  the  mold  at  the  foundry  served  through  one 
blast  and  fell  back  into  loose  sand  —  helped  to  carry  an  elec 
tion,  and  then  was  kicked  to  the  winds.  His  late  joint  struggle 

25  with  the  Republicans,  against  the  Lecompton  Constitution, 
involves  nothing  of  the  original  Nebraska  doctrine.  That 
struggle  was  made  on  a  point  —  the  right  of  a  people  to  make 
their  own  constitution  —  upon  which  he  and  the  Republicans 
have  never  differed. 

30  9.  The  several  points  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  in  con 
nection  with  Senator  Douglas's  "  care  not "  policy,  constitute 
the  piece  of  machinery,  in  its  present  state  of  advancement. 
This  was  the  third  point  gained.  The  working  points  of  that 
machinery  are : 


LINCOLN  137 

10.  First,   That   no   negro   slave,   imported    as    such  from 
Africa,  and  no  descendant  of  such  slave,  can  ever  be  a  citizen 
of  any  state,  in  the  sense  of  that  term  as  used  in  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States.    This  point  is  made  in  order  to  de 
prive  the  negro,  in  every  possible  event,  of  the  benefit  of  that    5 
provision  of  the  United  States  Constitution,  which  declares  that 
"The  citizens  of  each  state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges 
and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  states." 

11.  Secondly,  That,  "  subject   to   the  Constitution   of  the 
United  States,"  neither  Congress  nor  a  territorial  Legislature  10 
can  exclude  slavery  from  any  United  States  territory.    This 
point  is  made  in  order  that  individual  men  may  fill  up  the 
territories  with  slaves,  without  danger  of  losing  them  as  prop 
erty,  and  thus  to  enhance  the  chances  of  permanency  to  the 
institution  through  all  the  future.  15 

12.  Thirdly,  That  whether  the  holding  a  negro  in  actual 
slavery  in  a  free  state,  makes  him  free,  as  against  the  holder,  the 
United  States  courts  will  not  decide,  but  will  leave  to  be  decided 
by  the  courts  of  any  slave  state  the  negro  may  be  forced  into 
by  the  master.    This  point  is  made,  not  to  be  pressed  immedi-  20 
ately ;  but,  if  acquiesced  in  for  a  while,  and  apparently  indorsed 
by  the  people  at  an  election,  then  to  sustain  the  logical  con 
clusion  that  what  Dred  Scott's  master  might  lawfully  do  with 
Dred  Scott,  in  the  free  state  of  Illinois,  every  other  master  may 
lawfully  do  with  any  other  one,  or  one  thousand  slaves,  in  25 
Illinois,  or  in  any  other  free  state. 

13.  Auxiliary  to  all  this,  and  working  hand  in  hand  with  it, 
the  Nebraska  doctrine,  or  what  is  left  of  it,  is  to  educate  and 
mold  public  opinion,  at  least  Northern  public  opinion,  not  to 
care  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted  up.    This  shows  30 
exactly  where  we  now  are ;  and  partially,  also,  whither  we  are 
tending. 

14.  It  will  throw  additional  light  on  the  latter,  to  go  back, 
and  run  the  mind  over  the  string  of  historical  facts  already 


138  DIVIDED   HOUSE    SPEECH 

stated.  Several  things  will  now  appear  less  dark  and  mysterious 
than  they  did  when  they  were  transpiring.  The  people  were 
to  be  left  "  perfectly  free,"  "  subject  only  to  the  Constitution." 
What  the  Constitution  had  to  do  with  it,  outsiders  could  not 

5  then  see.  Plainly  enough  now :  it  was  an  exactly  fitted  niche 
for  the  Dred  Scott  decision  to  afterward  come  in  and  declare 
the  perfect  freedom  of  the  people  to  be  just  no  freedom  at  all. 
Why  was  the  amendment,  expressly  declaring  the  right  of  the 
people,  voted  down  ?  Plainly  enough  now :  the  adoption  of  it 

10  would  have  spoiled  the  niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision. 
Why  was  the  court  decision  held  up?  Why  even  a  Senator's 
individual  opinion  withheld,  till  after  the  Presidential  election? 
Plainly  enough  now :  the  speaking  out  then  would  have  dam 
aged  the  perfectly  free  argument  upon  which  the  election  was 

15  to  be  carried.  Why  the  outgoing  President's  felicitation  on 
the  indorsement?  Why  the  delay  of  a  re-argument?  Why  the 
incoming  President's  advance  exhortation  in  favor  of  the  deci 
sion?  These  things  look  like  the  cautious  patting  and  petting 
of  a  spirited  horse  preparatory  to  mounting  him,  when  it  is 

20  dreaded  that  he  may  give  the  rider  a  fall.    And  why  the  hasty 
after-indorsement  of  the  decision  by  the  president  and  others  ? 
1 5 .  We  cannot  absolutely  know  that  all  these  exact  adapta 
tions  are  the  result  of  preconcert.    But  when  we  see  a  lot  of 
framed  timbers,  different  portions  of  which  we  know  have  been 

25  gotten  out  at  different  times  and  places  and  by  different  work 
men — Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger,  and  James,  for  instance — and 
when  we  see  these  timbers  joined  together,  and  see  they  exactly 
make  the  frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill,  all  the  tenons  and  mor 
tises  exactly  fitting,  and  all  the  lengths  and  proportions  of  the 

30  different  pieces  exactly  adapted  to  their  respective  places,  and 
not  a  piece  too  many  or  too  few  —  not  omitting  even  scaffold 
ing  —  or,  if  a  single  piece  be  lacking,  we  see  the  place  in  the 
frame  exactly  fitted  and  prepared  yet  to  bring  such  piece  in  — 
in  such  a  case,  we  find  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that  Stephen 


LINCOLN  139 

and  Franklin  and  Roger  and  James  all  understood  one  another 
from  the  beginning,  and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan  or 
draft  drawn  up  before  the  first  blow  was  struck. 

1 6.  It  should  not  be  overlooked  that,  by  the  Nebraska  bill, 
the  people  of  a  state  as  well  as  territory,  were  to  be  left  "  per-  5 
fectly  free,"  "  subject  only  to  the  Constitution."  Why  mention 
a  state?  They  were  legislating  for  territories,  and  not  for  or 
about  states.  Certainly  the  people  of  a  state  are  and  ought  to 
be  subject  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States ;  but  why 
is  mention  of  this  lugged  into  this  merely  territorial  law?  Why  10 
are  the  people  of  a  territory  and  the  people  of  a  state  therein 
lumped  together,  and  their  relation  to  the  Constitution  therein 
treated  as  being  precisely  the  same  ?  While  the  opinion  of  the 
court,  by  Chief  Justice  Taney,  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  and  the 
separate  opinions  of  all  the  concurring  Judges,  expressly  declare  1 5 
that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  neither  permits  Con 
gress  nor  a  territorial  Legislature  to  exclude  slavery  from  any 
United  States  territory,  they  all  omit  to  declare  whether  or  not 
the  same  Constitution  permits  a  state,  or  the  people  of  a  state, 
to  exclude  it.  Possibly,  this  is  a  mere  omission ;  but  who  can  20 
be  quite  sure,  if  McLean  or  Curtis  had  sought  to  get  into  the 
opinion  a  declaration  of  unlimited  power  in  the  people  of  a 
state  to  exclude  slavery  from  their  limits,  just  as  Chase  and 
Mace  sought  to  get  such  declaration,  in  behalf  of  the  people 
of  a  territory,  into  the  Nebraska  bill,  —  I  ask,  who  can  be  25 
quite  sure  that  it  would  not  have  been  voted  down  in  the  one 
case  as  it  had  been  in  the  other?  The  nearest  approach  to  the 
point  of  declaring  the  power  of  a  state  over  slavery,  is  made 
by  Judge  Nelson.  He  approaches  it  more  than  once,  using 
the  precise  idea,  and  almost  the  language,  too,  of  the  Nebraska  30 
act.  On  one  occasion  his  exact  language  is,  "  Except  in  cases 
where  the  power  is  restrained  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  the  law  of  the  state  is  supreme  over  the  subject  of 
slavery  within  its  jurisdiction."  In  what  cases  the  power  of  the 


140  DIVIDED   HOUSE   SPEECH 

state  is  so  restrained  by  the  United  States  Constitution,  is  left 
an  open  question,  precisely  as  the  same  question,  as  to  the 
restraint  on  the  power  of  the  territories,  was  left  open  in 
the  Nebraska  act.  Put  this  and  that  together,  and  we  have 

5  another  nice  little  niche,  which  we  may,  ere  long,  see  filled 
with  another  Supreme  Court  decision,  declaring  that  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  does  not  permit  a  state  to  exclude 
slavery  from  its  limits.  And  this  may  especially  be  expected 
if  the  doctrine  of  "  care  not  whether  slavery  be  voted  down  or 

10  voted  up  "  shall  gain  upon  the  public  mind  sufficiently  to  give 
promise  that  such  a  decision  can  be  maintaniedTwhen  made. 

17.  Such  a  decision  is  all  that  slavery  now  lacks  of  being 
alike  lawful  in  all  the  states.    Welcome,  or  unwelcome,  such 
decision  is  probably  coming,  and  will  soon  be  upon  us,  unless 

15  the  power  of  the  present  political  dynasty  shall  be  met  and 
overthrown.  We  shall  lie  down  pleasantly  dreaming  that  the 
people  of  Missouri  are  on  the  verge  of  making  their  state  free, 
and  we  shall  awake  to  the  reality  instead,  that  the  Supreme 
Court  has  made  Illinois  a  slave  state.  To  meet  and  overthrow 

20  the  power  of  that  dynasty  is  the  work  now  before  all  those 
who  would  prevent  that  consummation.  That  is  what  we  have 
to  do.  How  can  we  best  do  it? 

1 8.  There  are  those  who  denounce  us  openly  to  their  own 
friends,  and  yet  whisper  us  softly  that  Senator  Douglas  is  the 

25  aptest  instrument  there  is  with  which  to  effect  that  object. 
They  wish  us  to  infer  all,  from  the  fact  that  he  now  has  a  little 
quarrel  with  the  present  head  of  the  dynasty ;  and  that  he  has 
regularly  voted  with  us  on  a  single  point,  upon  which  he  and 
we  have  never  differed.  They  remind  us  that  he  is  a  great 

30  man,  and  that  the  largest  of  us  are  very  small  ones.  Let  this 
be  granted.  But  "A  living  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  lion." 
Judge  Douglas,  if  not  a  dead  lion,  for  this  work,  is  at  least 
a  caged  and  toothless  one.  How  can  he  oppose  the  advances 
of  slavery?  He  don't  care  anything  about  it.  His  avowed 


LINCOLN  141 

mission  is  impressing  the  "  public  heart  "  to  care  nothing  about 
it.  A  leading  Douglas  Democratic  newspaper  thinks  Douglas's 
superior  talent  will  be  needed  to  resist  the  revival  of  the  African 
slave  trade.  Does  Douglas  believe  an  effort  to  revive  that  trade 
is  approaching?  He  has  not  said  so.  Does  he  really  think  so?  5 
But  if  it  is,  how  can  he  resist  it?  For  years  he  has  labored  to 
prove  it  a  sacred  right  of  white  men  to  take  negro  slaves  into 
the  new  territories.  Can  he  possibly  show  that  it  is  less  a  sacred 
right  to  buy  them  where  they  can  be  bought  cheapest?  And 
unquestionably  they  can  be  bought  cheaper  in  Africa  than  in  10 
Virginia.  He  has  done  all  in  his  power  to  reduce  the  whole 
question  of  slavery  to  one  of  a  mere  right  of  property;  and  as 
such,  how  can  he  oppose  the  foreign  slave  trade  • —  how  can  he 
refuse  that  trade  in  that  "  property  "  shall  be  "  perfectly  free  " 
—  unless  he  does  it  as  a  protection  to  the  home  production?  15 
And  as  the  home  producers  will  probably  not  ask  the  protec 
tion,  he  will  be  wholly  without  a  ground  of  opposition. 

19.  Senator  Douglas  holds,  we  know,  that  a  man  may  right 
fully  be  wiser  to-day  than  he  was   yesterday  —  that  he  may 
rightfully  change  when  he  finds  himself  wrong.     But  can  we,  20 
for  that  reason,  run  ahead,  and  infer  that  he  will  make  any 
particular  change,  of  which  he,  himself,  has  given  no  intima 
tion?    Can  we   safely  base  our  action  upon  any  such  vague 
inference?     Now,  as  ever,  I  wish  not  to  misrepresent  Judge 
Douglas's  position,  question  his  motives,  or  do  aught  that  can  25 
be  personally  offensive  to  him.    Whenever,  if  ever,  he  and  we 
can  come  together  on  principle  so  that  our  cause  may  have 
assistance  from  his  great  ability,  I  hope  to  have  interposed  no 
adventitious  obstacle.     But  clearly,  he  is  not  now  with  us  — 

he  does  not  pretend  to  be  —  he  does  not  promise  ever  to  be.     30 

20.  Our  cause,  then,  must  be  intrusted  to,  and  conducted 
by,  its  own  undoubted  friends  —  those  whose  hands  are  free, 
whose  hearts  are  in  the  work  —  who  do  care  for  the  result. 
Two  years  ago  the  Republicans  of  the  nation  mustered  over 


142  REPLY  TO    LINCOLN 

thirteen  hundred  thousand  strong.  We  did  this  under  the 
single  impulse  of  resistance  to  a  common  danger,  with  every 
external  circumstance  against  us.  Of  strange,  discordant,  and 
even  hostile  elements,  we  gathered  from  the  four  winds,  and 
5  formed  and  fought  the  battle  through,  under  the  constant,  hot 
fire  of  a  disciplined,  proud,  and  pampered  enemy.  Did  we 
brave  all  then,  to  falter  now?  — now,  when  that  same  enemy 
is  wavering,  dissevered  and  belligerent?  The  result  is  not 
doubtful.  We  shall  not  fail  —  if  we  stand  firm,  we  shall  not 
10  fail.  Wise  counsels  may  accelerate,  or  mistakes  delay  it,  but, 
sooner  or  later,  the  victory  is  sure  to  come. 

[The  foregoing  speech  was  the  precursor  of  the  famous  Lincoln- 
Douglas  Debates.  It  furnished  the  texts  for  those  Debates,  and 
little  new  matter  on  any  material  issue  was  added  by  either  Lincoln 
or  Douglas.  The  issues  raised  in  this  speech  were  replied  to  by 
Douglas  in  the  first  joint  debate  at  Ottawa,  Illinois,  August  21, 
1858,  and  re-replied  to  by  Lincoln.  In  order  that  the  reader  may 
gain  an  idea  of  the  matter  and  style  of  the  subsequent  arguments, 
the  following  extracts  are  appended.] 

REPLY   BY   DOUGLAS 

i .  Mr.  Lincoln  says  that  this  Government  cannot  endure  per 
manently  in  the  same  condition  in  which  it  was  made  by  its 
framers  —  divided  into  free  and  slave  states.  He  says  that  it 

15  has  existed  for  about  seventy  years  thus  divided,  and  yet  he 
tells  you  that  it  cannot  endure  permanently  on  the  same  prin 
ciples  and  in  the  same  relative  condition  in  which  our  fathers 
made  it.  Why  can  it  not  exist  divided  into  free  and  slave 
states?  Washington,  Jefferson,  Franklin,  Madison,  Hamilton, 

20  Jay,  and  the  great  men  of  that  day,  made  this  Government 
divided  into  free  states  and  slave  states,  and  left  each  state 
perfectly  free  to  do  as  it  pleased  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 
Why  can  it  not  exist  on  the  same  principles  on  which  our 


DOUGLAS  143 

fathers  made  it?  They  knew  when  they  framed  the  Constitu 
tion  that  in  a  country  as  wide  and  broad  as  this,  with  such 
a  variety  of  climate,  production,  and  interest,  the  people 
necessarily  required  different  laws  and  institutions  in  different 
localities.  They  knew  that  the  laws  and  regulations  which  5 
would  suit  the  granite  hills  of  New  Hampshire  would  be  un- 
suited  to  the  rice  plantations  of  South  Carolina,  and  they 
therefore  provided  that  each  state  should  retain  its  own  leg 
islature  and  its  own  sovereignty,  with  the  full  and  complete 
power  to  do  as  it  pleased  within  its  own  limits,  in  all  that  was  10 
local  and  not  national.  One  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
states,  was  the  right  to  regulate  the  relations  between  master 
and  servant,  on  the  slavery  question.  .  .  . 

2.  We  are  told  by  Lincoln  that  he  is  utterly  opposed  to  the 
Dred  Scott  decision,  and  will  not  submit  to  it,  for  the  reason  15 
that  he  says  it  deprives  the  negro  of  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  citizenship.    That  is  the  first  and  main  reason  which  he 
assigns  for  his  warfare  on  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  and  its  decision.    I  ask  you,  are  you  in  favor  of  con 
ferring  upon  the  negro  the  rights  and  privileges  of  citizenship  ?  20 
Do  you  desire   to   strike   out  of  our  State  Constitution  that 
clause  which  keeps  slaves  and  free  negroes  out  of  the  state, 
and  allow  the  free  negroes  to  flow  in,  and  cover  your  prairies 
with  black  settlements?    Do  you  desire  to  turn  this  beautiful 
state  into  a  free  negro  colony,  in  order  that  when  Missouri  25 
abolishes  slavery  she  can  send  one  hundred  thousand  emanci 
pated  slaves  into  Illinois,  to  become  citizens  and  voters,  on  an 
equality  with  yourselves?    If  you  desire  negro  citizenship,  if 
you  desire  to  allow  them  to  come  into  the  state  and  settle 
with  the  white  man,  if  you  desire  them  to  vote  on  an  equality  30 
with  yourselves,  and  to  make  them  eligible  to  office,  to  serve 
on  juries,  and  to  adjudge  your  rights,  then  support  Mr.  Lin 
coln  and  the  Black  Republican  party,  who  are  in  favor  of  the 
citizenship  of  the  negro.    For  one,  I  am  opposed  to  negro 


144  REPLY  TO   LINCOLN 

citizenship  in  any  and  every  form.  I  believe  this  Government 
was  made  on  the  white  basis.  I  believe  it  was  made  by  white 
men,  for  the  benefit  of  white  men  and  their  posterity  forever, 
and  I  am  in  favor  of  confining  citizenship  to  white  men,  men 
5  of  European  birth  and  descent,  instead  of  conferring  it  upon 
negroes,  Indians,  and  other  inferior  races. 

3.  Mr.  Lincoln,  following  the  example  and  lead  of  all  the 
little  abolition  orators,  who  go  around  and  lecture  in  the  base 
ments  of  schools  and  churches,  reads  from  the  Declaration  of 

10  Independence,  that  all  men  were  created  equal,  and  then  asks, 
how  can  you  deprive  a  negro  of  that  equality  which  God  and 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  award  to  him?  He  and  they 
maintain  that  negro  equality  is  guaranteed  by  the  laws  of  God, 
and  that  it  is  asserted  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  If 

15  they  think  so,  of  course  they  have  a  right  to  say  so,  and  so 
vote.  I  do  not  question  Mr.  Lincoln's  conscientious  belief 
that  the  negro  was  made  his  equal,  and  hence  is  his  brother ; 
but  for  my  own  part,  I  do  not  regard  the  negro  as  my  equal, 
and  positively  deny  that  he  is  my  brother  or  any  kin  to  me 

20  whatever.  Lincoln  has  evidently  learned  by  heart  Parson 
Lovejoy's  catechism.  He  can  repeat  it  as  well  as  Farnsworth, 
and  he  is  worthy  of  a  medal  from  Father  Giddings  and  Fred 
Douglass  for  his  abolitionism.  He  holds  that  the  negro  was 
born  his  equal  and  yours,  and  that  he  was  endowed  with 

25  equality  by  the  Almighty,  and  that  no  human  law  can  deprive 
him  of  these  rights  which  were  guaranteed  to  him  by  the 
Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe.  Now,  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  Almighty  ever  intended  the  negro  to  be  the  equal  of  the 
white  man.  If  He  did,  He  has  been  a  long  time  demonstrating 

30  the  fact.  For  thousands  of  years  the  negro  has  been  a  race 
upon  the  earth,  and  during  all  that  time,  in  all  latitudes  and 
climates,  wherever  he  has  wandered  or  been  taken,  he  has  been 
inferior  to  the  race  which  he  has  there  met.  He  belongs  to  an 
inferior  race,  and  must  always  occupy  an  inferior  position. 


DOUGLAS  145 

4.  I   do   not  hold   that  because  the  negro  is  our  inferior 
he  therefore  ought  to  be  a  slave.     By  no  means  can  such  a 
conclusion  be  drawn  from  what  I  have  said.    On  the  contrary, 
I  hold  that  humanity  and  Christianity  both  require  that  the 
negro  shall  have  and  enjoy  every  right,  every  privilege,  and    5 
every  immunity  consistent  with  the  safety  of   the  society  in 
which  he  lives.    On  that  point,  I  presume,  there  can  be  no 
diversity  of  opinion.    You  and  I  are  bound  to  extend  to  our 
inferior   and   dependent   beings  every   right,   every  privilege, 
every  facility  and  immunity  consistent  with  the  public  good.  10 
The  question  then  arises,  what  rights  and  privileges  are  con 
sistent  with  the  public  good?    This  is  a  question  which  each 
state  and  each  territory  must  decide  for  itself.  .  .  . 

5.  Now,    my  friends,   if  we   will   only   act    conscientiously 
and  rigidly  upon  this  great  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  15 
which  guarantees  to  each  state  and  territory  the  right  to  do 

as  it  pleases  on  all  things,  local  and  domestic,  instead  of  ask 
ing  Congress  to  interfere,  we  will  continue  at  peace  one  with 
another.  Why  should  Illinois  be  at  war  with  Missouri,  or  Ken 
tucky  with  Ohio,  or  Virginia  with  New  York,  merely  because  20 
their  institutions  differ?  Our  fathers  intended  that  our  insti 
tutions  should  differ.  They  knew  that  the  North  and  the  South, 
having  different  climates,  productions,  and  interests,  required 
different  institutions.  This  doctrine  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  of  uni 
formity  among  the  institutions  of  the  different  states,  is  a  new  25 
doctrine,  never  dreamed  of  by  Washington,  Madison,  or  the 
framers  of  this  Government.  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  Republican 
party  set  themselves  up  as  wiser  than  these  men  who  made 
this  Government,  which  has  flourished  for  seventy  years  under 
the  principle  of  popular  sovereignty,  recognizing  the  right  of  30 
each  state  to  do  as  it  pleased.  Under  that  principle,  we  have 
grown  from  a  nation  of  three  or  four  millions  to  a  nation  of 
about  thirty  millions  of  people  ;  we  have  crossed  the  Allegheny 
Mountains  and  filled  up  the  whole  Northwest,  turning  the 


146  REJOINDER   TO   DOUGLAS 

prairie  into  a  garden,  and  building  up  churches  and  schools, 
thus  spreading  civilization  and  Christianity  where  before  there 
was  nothing  but  savage  barbarism.  Under  that  principle  we 
have  become,  from  a  feeble  nation,  the  most  powerful  on  the 
5  face  of  the  earth ;  and  if  we  only  adhere  to  that  principle,  we 
can  go  forward  increasing  in  territory,  in  power,  in  strength, 
and  in  glory,  until  the  Republic  of  America  shall  be  the  North 
Star  that  shall  guide  the  friends  of  freedom  throughout  the 
civilized  world.  And  why  can  we  not  adhere  to  the  great  prin- 

10  ciple  of  self-government,  upon  which  our  institutions  were 
originally  based?  I  believe  that  this  new  doctrine  preached 
by  Mr.  Lincoln  and  his  party  will  dissolve  the  Union  if  it  suc 
ceeds.  They  are  trying  to  array  all  the  Northern  states  in  one 
body  against  the  South,  to  excite  a  sectional  war  between  the 

15  free  states  and  the  slave  states,  in  order  that  the  one  or  the 
other  may  be  driven  to  the  wall. 

REJOINDER  BY   LINCOLN 

[Reading  from  his  speech  at  Peoria,  Illinois,  of  October  16, 
1854.] 

i.  "  When  Southern  people  tell  us  they  are  no  more  respon 
sible  for  the  origin  of  slavery  than  we,  I  acknowledge  the  fact. 
When  it  is  said  that  the  institution  exists,  and  that  it  is  very 

20  difficult  to  get  rid  of  it  in  any  satisfactory  way,  I  can  under 
stand  and  appreciate  the  saying.  I  surely  will  not  blame  them 
for  not  doing  what  I  should  not  know  how  to  do  myself.  If  all 
earthly  power  were  given  me,  I  should  not  know  what  to  do 
as  to  the  existing  institution.  My  first  impulse  would  be  to  free 

25  all  the  slaves,  and  send  them  to  Liberia  —  to  their  own  native 
land.  But  a  moment's  reflection  would  convince  me,  that  what 
ever  of  high  hope  (as  I  think  there  is)  there  may  be  in  this,  in 
the  long  run,  its  sudden  execution  is  impossible.  If  they  were 
all  landed  there  in  a  day,  they  would  all  perish  in  the  next  ten. 


LINCOLN  147 

days ;  and  there  are  not  surplus  shipping  and  surplus  money 
enough  in  the  world  to  carry  them  there  in  many  times  ten 
days.  What  then?  Free  them  all,  and  keep  them  among  us 
as  underlings?  Is  it  quite  certain  that  this  betters  their  condi 
tion  ?  1  think  I  would  not  hold  one  in  slavery  at  any  rate ;  yet  5 
the  point  is  not  clear  enough  to  me  to  denounce  people  upon. 
What  next?  Free  them,  and  make  them  politically  and  socially 
our  equals?  My  own  feelings  will  not  admit  of  this;  and  if 
mine  would,  we  well  know  that  those  of  the  great  mass  of  white 
people  will  not.  Whether  this  feeling  accords  with  justice  and  10 
sound  judgment,  is  not  the  sole  question,  if,  indeed,  it  is  any 
part  of  it.  A  universal  feeling,  whether  well  or  ill  founded,  can 
not  be  safely  disregarded.  We  cannot,  then,  make  them  equals. 
It  does  seem  to  me  that  systems  of  gradual  emancipation  might 
be  adopted  ;  but  for  their  tardiness  in  this,  I  will  not  undertake  15 
to  judge  our  brethren  of  the  South. 

2.  "When  they  remind  us  of  their  constitutional  rights,  I 
acknowledge  them,  not  grudgingly,  but  fully  and  fairly ;  and  I 
would  give  them  any  legislation  for  the  reclaiming  of  their 
fugitives,  which  should  not,  in  its  stringency,  be  more  likely  to  20 
carry  a  free  man  into  slavery  than  our  ordinary  criminal  laws 
are  to  hang  an  innocent  one. 

3.  "  But  all  this,  to  my  judgment,  furnishes  no  more  excuse 
for  permitting  slavery  to  go  into  our  own  free  territory,  than  it 
would  for  reviving  the  African  slave  trade  by  law.    The  law  which  25 
forbids  the  bringing  of  slaves  from  Africa,  and  that  which  has 

so  long  forbid  the  taking  of  them  to  Nebraska,  can  hardly  be  dis 
tinguished  on  any  moral  principle  ;  and  the  repeal  of  the  former 
could  find  quite  as  plausible  excuses  as  that  of  the  latter." 

4.  Now,  Gentlemen,  I  don't  want  to  read  at  any  greater  30 
length,  but  this  is  the  true  complexion  of  all  I  have  ever  said 

in  regard  to  the  institution  of  slavery  and  the  black  race.  This 
is  the  whole  of  it,  and  anything  that  argues  me  into  his  idea  of 
perfect  social  and  political  equality  with  the  negro,  is  but  a 


148  REJOINDER  TO    DOUGLAS 

specious  and  fantastic  arrangement  of  words,  by  which  a  man 
can  prove  a  horse-chestnut  to  be^arcKestnut  horse.  I  will  say 
here,  while  upon  this  subject,  that  I  have  no  purpose,  directly 
or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the 
5  states  where  it  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do 
so,  and  I  have  no  inclination  to  do  so.  I  have  no  purpose  to 
introduce  political  and  social  equality  between  the  white  and 
the  black  races.  There  is  a  physical  difference  between  the 
two,  which,  in  my  judgment,  will  probably  forever  forbid  their 

10  living  together  upon  the  footing  of  perfect  equality ;  and  inas 
much  as  it  becomes  a  necessity  that  there  must  be  a  difference, 
I,  as  well  as  Judge  Douglas,  am  in  favor  of  the  race  to  which  I 
belong  having  the  superior  position.  I  have  never  said  any 
thing  to  the  contrary,  but  I  hold  that  notwithstanding  all  this, 

15  there  is  no  reason  in  the  world  why  the  negro  is  not  entitled 
to  all  the  natural  rights  enumerated  in  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence, —  the  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness.  I  hold  that  he  is  as  much  entitled  to  these  as  the  white 
man.  I  agree  with  Judge  Douglas  he  is  not  my  equal  in  many 

20  respects  —  certainly  not  in  color,  perhaps  not  in  moral  or  intel 
lectual  endowment.  But  in  the  right  to  eat  the  bread,  without 
the  leave  of  anybody  else,  which  his  own  hand  earns,  he  is  my 
equal,  and  the  equal  of  Judge  Douglas,  and  the  equal  of  every 
living  man.  .  .  .  Judge  Douglas  has  read  from  my  speech  in 

25  Springfield,  in  which  I  say  that  "  a  house  divided  against  itself 
cannot  stand."  Does  the  Judge  say  it  can  stand?  I  don't 
know  whether  he  does  or  not.  The  Judge  does  not  seem  to  be 
attending  to  me  just  now,  but  I  would  like  to  know  if  it  is  his 
opinion  that  a  house  divided  against  itself  can  stand.  If  he  does 

30  think  so,  then  there  is  a  question  of  veracity,  not  between  him 
and  me,  but  between  the  Judge  and  an  authority  of  a  some 
what  higher  character. 

5.  Now,  my  friends,  I  ask  your  attention  to  this  matter  for 
the  purpose  of  saying  something  seriously.    I  know  that  the 


LINCOLN  149 

Judge  may  readily  enough  agree  with  me  that  the  maxim  which 
was  put  forth  by  the  Saviour,  is  true,  but  he  may  allege  that  I 
misapply  it ;  and  the  Judge  has  a  right  to  urge  that,  in  my 
application,  I  do  misapply  it,  and  then  I  have  a  right  to  show 
that  I  do  not  misapply  it.  When  he  undertakes  to  say  that  5 
because  I  think  this  nation,  so  far  as  the  question  of  slavery  is 
concerned,  will  ^all  become  one  thing  or  all  the  other,  I  am  in 
favor  of  bringing  about  a  dead  uniformity  in  the  various  states, 
in  all  their  institutions,  he  argues  erroneously.  The  great  variety 
of  the  local  institutions  in  the  states,  springing  from  differences  10 
in  the  soil,  differences  in  the  face  of  the  country  and  in  the 
climate,  are  bonds  of  union.  They  do  not  make  "  a  house 
divided  against  itself,  "  but  they  make  a  house  united.  If  they 
produce  in  one  section  of  the  country  what  is  called  for  by  the 
wants  of  another  section,  and  this  other  section  can  supply  the  15 
wants  of  the  first,  they  are  not  matters  of  discord  but  bonds  of 
union,  true  bonds  of  union.  But  can  this  question  of  slavery  be 
considered  as  among  these  varieties  in  the  institutions  of  the 
country?  I  leave  it  to  you  to  say  whether,  in  the  history  of  our 
Government,  this  institution  of  slavery  has  not  always  failed  to  20 
be  a  bond  of  union,  and,  on  the  contrary,  been  an  apple  of  dis 
cord,  and  an  element  of  division  in  the  house.  I  ask  you  to 
consider  whether,  so  long  as  the  moral  constitution  of  men's 
minds  shall  continue  to  be  the  same,  after  this  generation  and 
assemblage  shall  sink  into  the  grave,  and  another  race  shall  25 
arise,  with  the  same  moral  and  intellectual  development  we 
have  —  whether,  if  that  institution  is  standing  in  the  same 
irritating  position  in  which  it  now  is,  it  will  not  continue  an 
element  of  division?  If  so,  then  I  have  a  right  to  say  that,  in 
regard  to  this  question,  the  Union  is  a  house  divided  against  30 
itself ;  and  when  the  Judge  reminds  me  that  I  have  often  said 
to  him  that  the  institution  of  slavery  has  existed  for  eighty  years 
in  some  states,  and  yet  it  does  not  exist  in  some  others,  I  agree 
to  the  fact,  and  I  account  for  it  by  looking  at  the  position  in 


150  REJOINDER   TO   DOUGLAS 

which  our  fathers  originally  placed  it,  —  restricting  it  from  the 
new  territories  where  it  had  not  gone,  and  legislating  to  cut  off 
its  source  by  the  abrogation  of  the  slave  trade,  thus  putting  the 
seal  of  legislation  against  its  spread.  The  public  mind  did  rest 
5  in  the  belief  that  it  was  in  the  course  of  ultimate  extinction. 
But  lately,  I  think  —  and  in  this  I  charge  nothing  on  the  Judge's 
motives  —  lately,  I  think,  that  he,  and  those  acting  with  him, 
have  placed  that  institution  on  a  new  basis,  wliich  looks  to  the 
perpetuity  and  nationalization  of  slavery.  And  while  it  is  placed 
10  upon  this  new  basis,  I  say,  and  I  have  said,  that  I  believe  we 
shall  not  have  peace  upon  the  question  until  the  opponents  of 
slavery  arrest  the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the 
public  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  that  its  advocates . 
1 5  will  push  it  forward  until  it  shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the 
states,  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South.  Now,  I 
believe  if  we  could  arrest  the  spread,  and  place  it  where  Wash 
ington,  and  Jefferson,  and  Madison  placed  it,  it  would  be  in  the 
course  of  ultimate  extinction,  and  the  public  mind  would,  as 
20  for  eighty  years  past,  believe  that  it  was  in  the  course  of  ulti 
mate  extinction.  The  crisis  would  be  past  and  the  institution 
might  be  let  alone  for  a  hundred  years,  if  it  should  live  so  long, 
in  the  states  where  it  exists,  yet  it  would  be  going  out  of  exist 
ence  in  the  way  best  for  both  the  black  and  the  white  races.  .  .  . 
25  6.  Henry  Clay,  my  beau  ideal  of  a  statesman,  the  man  for 
whom  I  fought  all  my  humble  life  —  Henry  Clay  once  said  of 
a  class  of  men  who  would  repress  all  tendencies  to  liberty  and 
ultimate  emancipation,  that  they  must,  if  they  would  do  this, 
go  back  to  the  era  of  our  Independence,  and  muzzle  the  can- 
jo  non  which  thunders  its  annual  joyous  return ;  they  must  blow 
out  the  moral  lights  around  us  ;  they  must  penetrate  the  human 
soul  and  eradicate  there  the  love  of  liberty ;  and  then,  and  not 
till  then,  could  they  perpetuate  slavery  in  this  country  !  To  my 
thinking,  Judge  Douglas  is,  by  his  example  and  vast  influence, 


LINCOLN  151 

doing  that  very  thing  in  this  community,  when  he  says  that  the 
negro  has  nothing  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Henry 
Clay  plainly  understood  the  contrary.  Judge  Douglas  is  going 
back  to  the  era  of  our  Revolution,  and,  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability,  muzzling  the  cannon  which  thunders  its  annual  joyous  5 
return.  When  he  invites  any  people,  willing  to  have  slavery,  to 
establish  it,  he  is  blowing  out  the  moral  lights  around  us.  When 
he  says  he  "  cares  not  whether  slavery  is  voted  down  or  voted 
up," — that  it  is  a  sacred  right  of  self-government,  —  he  is,  in 
my  judgment,  penetrating  the  human  soul  and  eradicating  the  10 
light  of  reason  and  the  love  of  liberty  in  this  American  people. 
And  now  I  will  only  say  that  when,  by  all  these  means  and  appli 
ances,  Judge  Douglas  shall  succeed  in  bringing  public  sentiment 
to  an  exact  accordance  with  his  own  views,  when  these  vast 
assemblages  shall  echo  back  all  'these  sentiments,  when  they  15 
shall  come  to  repeat  his  views  and  to  avow  his  principles,  and 
to  say  all  that  he  says  on  these  mighty  questions,  —  then  it 
needs  only  the  formality  of  the  second  Dred  Scott  decision, 
which  he  indorses  in  advance,  to  make  slavery  alike  lawful  in 
all  the  states  —  old  as  well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South.  20 

My  friends,  that  ends  the  chapter.    The  Judge  can  take  his 
half  hour. 


THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS 

AN   ORATION    DELIVERED    AT   THE    CENTENNIAL    ANNIVERSARY   OF 
THE  PHI  BETA  KAPPA  OF  HARVARD  COLLEGE,  JUNE  30,  1881 

INTRODUCTION 

Wendell  Phillips,  orator  and  agitator,  was  born  in  Boston,  No 
vember  29,  181 1.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1831, 
and  from  the  Harvard  Law  School  in  1834.  The  following  year 
he  opened  a  law  office  in  Boston.  In  1837  he  married  Miss  Anne 
Terry  Greene,  through  whom  he  became  acquainted  with  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  the  abolitionist.  His  wife  was  always  an  invalid, 
but  to  her  influence  Phillips  attributed  the  decisive  impulses  of 
his  life.  Two  years  prior  to  his  marriage,  however,  upon  seeing 
Garrison  dragged  by  a  mob  through  the  streets  of  Boston,  he  had 
dedicated  his  life  to  the  antislavery  cause.  Shortly  after  his  mar 
riage,  at  a  meeting  held  in  Faneuil  Hall  to  denounce  the  murder 
at  Alton,  Illinois,  of  an  abolitionist  named  Lovejoy,  Phillips  made 
the  first  and  most  famous  of  his  speeches.  Thereafter,  public 
speaking  constituted  his  life  work.  ,  He  had  already  noted  the 
estrangement  of  Boston  society  on  account  of  his  abolition  senti 
ments,  and  this  Faneuil  Hall  speech  completed  it;  but  having 
a  competency  through  his  inheritance  and  that  of  his  wife,  he  was 
enabled  to  give  himself  up  to  the  promotion  of  the  antislavery  cause. 
He  became  the  recognized  orator  of  the  abolitionists.  He  also 
delivered  lyceum  lectures,  from  which  he  derived  a  considerable 
income,  giving  his  lecture  on  "  The  Lost  Arts  "  over  two  thousand 
times,  and  receiving  therefor  $150,000.  After  the  Civil  War,  other 
reforms  (all  referred  to  in  his  speech  in  this  volume)  claimed  his 
attention,  his  attitude  being  that  of  the  agitator  to  the  end.  He 
died  February  2,  1884. 


154  THE  SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

It  is  perhaps  even  yet  too  early  to  get  a  proper  historical  per 
spective  of  Phillips's  life.  We  can  truly  appreciate  his  methods 
and  influence  only  by  remembering  that  he  was  primarily  and  solely 
an  agitator.  Whereas  Lincoln  was  conservative  and  constructive, 
Phillips  was  radical  and  destructive.  In  Lincoln  we  recognize  the 
genius  of  constructive  statesmanship,  based  on  the  past  and  pres 
ent,  but  building  for  the  future ;  Phillips  was  a  child  of  genius, 
not  a  practical  statesman.  He  was  by  nature  and  cultivation  a 
/fighter  and  an  iconoclast.  Poise,  perspective,  a  just  estimate  of 
men  and  events  are  conspicuously  absent  in  his  speeches.  His 
philosophy  of  our  government  was  :  Educate  public  opinion  through 
agitation  against  moral  and  political  wrongs,  and  trust  the  people 
to  do  the  rest.  The  antislavery  agitation  furnished  Phillips  a  field 
for  the  exercise  of  his  peculiar  talents.  Once  grant  that  man  could 
not  rightly  hold  property  in  man,  and  the  intellectual  part  of  the 
debate  was  won ;  the  rest  was  purely  a  moral  appeal,  and  herein 
Phillips  was  master.  Hence  it  was  that  other  questions,  such  as 
the  currency,  labor,  and  suffrage  problems,  which  he  essayed  to 
deal  with  after  the  war,  —  questions  which  he  showed  no  signs  of 
having  carefully  studied,  —  did  not  so  readily  lend  themselves  to 
settlement  by  his  methods.  There  is,  therefore,  all  the  more  praise 
for  his  oratory  that  he  was  listened  to  eagerly  to  the  end.  Throw 
away  half  of  his  contention,  and  there  is  usually  enough  left  to 
startle  the  reader  into  a  new  train  of  thought.  How  much  more, 
then,  must  his  words  have  startled  the  hearer,  under  the  spell  of 
Phillips's  delivery ! 

In  the  history  of  American  oratory  the  career  of  Phillips  is 
unique.  With  most  men  in  modern  times  public  speaking  is  merely 
incident  to  their  careers.  During  the  fifty  years  of  Phillips's  active 
life,  oratory  was  his  sole  profession.  Presumably  the  fifty-seven 
orations  and  addresses  contained  in  the  two-volume  series  of  his 
works,  some  of  the  lectures  delivered  thousands  of  times,  represent 
a  far  from  complete  collection  of  the  speeches  made  by  him,  —  ad 
dresses  on  less  important  occasions  and  of  a  more  extemporaneous 
nature.  In  an  age  of  powerful  orators,  North  and  South,  Phillips 
was  distinctively  the  orator  of  his  time.  In  ultimate  influence  he 
was  excelled  by  Webster,  so  that  in  the  general  estimate  we  must 
concede  that  Webster  was  the  greater  orator ;  but  in  the  immediate 
influence  over  an  audience  he  excelled  Webster,  —  particularly  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  many  of  Phillips's  most  successful  speeches 


PHILLIPS  155 

were  addressed  to  hostile  listeners.  And  since  he  ordinarily  ad 
dressed  fairly  intelligent  audiences,  it  must  be  inferred  that  his 
wonderful  power  was  due  to  subject-matter  and  style,  as  well  as  to 
his  manner  of  delivery. 

In  delivery,  Phillips  set  the  fashion  for  the  direct,  conversational 
style.  Though  perhaps  not  possessing  the  power  of  mere  weight 
that  Webster  wielded,  he  improved  on  Webster's  occasional  tend 
ency  to  a  heavy  and  pompous  style.  Tall,  lithe,  and  graceful,  — 

resembling,   by  actual   measurement,   the    Greek   Apollo, Phil- 

lips's  manner  of  speaking  was,  according  to  all  his  contempora 
ries,  that  of  high-bred  conversationalism.  A  contemporary  and 
a  competent  critic,  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  says  of  Phil- 
lips's  style : 

"  The  keynote  to  the  oratory  of  Wendell  Phillips  lay  in  this : 
that  it  was  essentially  conversational  —  the  conversational  raised 
to  its  highest  power.  Perhaps  no  orator  ever  spoke  with  so  little 
apparent  effort  or  began  so  entirely  on  the  plane  of  his  average 
hearers.  It  was  as  if  he  simply  repeated,  in  a  little  louder  tone, 
what  he  had  just  been  saying  to  some  familiar  friend  at  his  elbow. 
The  effect  was  absolutely  disarming.  Those  accustomed  to  spread- 
eagle  eloquence  felt,  perhaps,  a  slight  sense  of  disappointment.  But 
he  held  them  by  his  very  quietness.  The  poise  of  his  manly  figure, 
the  easy  grace  of  his  attitude,  the  thrilling  modulation  of  his  per 
fectly  trained  voice,  the  dignity  of  his  gesture,  the  keen  penetration 
of  his  eye,  all  aided  to  keep  his  hearers  in  hand.  The  colloquialism 
was  never  relaxed ;  but  it  was  familiarity  without  loss  of  keeping. 
.  .  .  Then,  as  the  argument  went  on,  the  voice  grew  deeper,  the 
action  more  animated,  and  the  sentences  came  in  a  long,  sonorous 
swell,  still  easy  and  graceful,  but  powerful  as  the  soft  stretching  of 
a  tiger's  paw.  He  could  be  terse  as  Carlyle,  or  his  periods  could 
be  prolonged  and  cumulative  as  those  of  Choate  or  Evarts :  no 
matter ;  they  carried  in  either  case  the  same  charm." 

The  Reverend  Carlos  Martyn,  in  his  biography  of  Phillips,  says : 
"  It  was  this  colloquial  quality,  infinitely  varied  yet  without 
interruption,  which  made  him  the  least  tedious  of  speakers.  You 
heard  him  an  hour,  two  hours,  three  hours  —  and  were  unconscious 
of  the  lapse  of  time.  Indeed,  he  never  seemed  to  be  making  a 
speech.  It  was  no  oration  for  the  crown,  with  drum  and  trumpet 
declamation  —  only  a  gentleman  talking.  He  had  exactly  the  man 
ner  for  an  agitator,  it  was  so  entirely  without  agitation.  This 


156  THE    SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

repose,  fire  under  snow,  enabled  him  to  husband  all  his  electricity 
and  flash  it  out  to  magnetize  the  audience." 

Phillips's  style  of  delivery,  as  was  said,  set  a  fashion.  It  taught 
the  value  of  high-bred  conversationalism.  Bombast  and  artificiality, 
rant  and  roar  went  out  of  date,  and  the  era  of  trained  naturalism 
began.  In  this  regard  Phillips  made  every  speaker  and  every  audi 
ence  his  debtor. 

This  conversational  style  also  characterizes  his  rhetoric  and 
diction.  His  sentences  have  the  variety,  the  brevity,  and  the  direct 
ness  of  ordinary  conversation.  While  the  subject-matter  of  many 
of  his  speeches  has  to-day  only  a  historical  interest,  and  though 
they  contain  many  arguments  and  sentiments  utterly  at  variance 
with  our  beliefs  and  with  subsequent  events,  the  student  of  ora 
tory  will  find  —  barring  the  extreme  invective  —  no  better  or  safer 
models  of  oratorical  composition.  The  leading  qualities  of  his  style 
are  his  colloquial  diction,  his  strength  and  energy,  his  invective, 
and  his  striking  phrases. 

Strength  and  energy  were  of  course  necessary  for  his  work  as 
an  agitator.  Though  frequently  mistaken,  he  is  never  knock-kneed. 
He  strikes  hard  and  often.  He  does  not  reserve  his  force  for  a 
periodic  or  final  climax,  but  oftentimes  every  sentence  is  a  climax. 
His  thought,  as  distinguished  from  what  has  been  described  as  his 
manner  of  delivery,  is  in  constant  motion.  In  many  of  his  speeches 
there  is  no  orderly  arrangement  in  argument  or  exposition,  and  yet 
the  thought  is  always  clear  and  never  lags.  His  is  not  the  "  stately 
flow  of  eloquence  " ;  the  main  thought  current  is  constantly  reen- 
forced  by  unseen  springs,  deflected  by  eddies  and  side  currents, 
"boiling  and  turmoiling,"  like  the  Niagara  rapids. 

By  common  acknowledgment  Phillips  stands  at  the  head  of  all 
orators,  ancient  or  modern,  in  his  use  of  invective.  He  hits  right 
and  left,  sometimes  his  friends  as  well  as  his  foes.  Webster,  Choate, 
Everett,  Seward,  Kossuth,  and  even  Lincoln  are  among  the  men 
whom  he  attacked.  His  aforementioned  maiden  speech,  delivered 
at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  illustrates  his  power  in  invective.  The 
attorney-general  of  the  commonwealth  had  spoken  in  defense  of 
the  murder  by  the  mob.  Two  sentences  in  Phillips's  reply  are 
as  follows : 

"  Sir,  when  I  heard  the  gentleman  lay  down  principles  which 
place  the  murderers  of  Alton  side  by  side  with  Otis  and  Hancock, 
with  Quincy  and  Adams,  I  thought  those  pictured  lips  [pointing 


PHILLIPS  157 

to  the  portraits  in  the  hall]  would  have  broken  into  voice  to  rebuke 
the  recreant  American  —  the  slanderer  of  the  dead.  .  .  .  Sir,  for 
the  sentiments  he  has  uttered,  on  soil  consecrated  by  the  prayers 
of  Puritans  and  the  blood  of  patriots,  the  earth  should  have  yawned 
and  swallowed  him  up." 

Take  this  example  from  his  speech  on  "  Public  Opinion,  "  which 
also  includes  his  reasons  for  the  use  of  invective : 

"  Men  blame  us  for  the  bitterness  of  our  language  and  the  per 
sonality  of  our  attacks.  It  results  from  our  position.  The  great 
mass  of  the  people  can  never  be  made  to  stay  and  argue  a  long 
question.  They  must  be  made  to  feel  it,  through  the  hides  of  their 
idols.  When  you  have  launched  your  spear  into  the  rhinoceros 
hide  of  a  Webster  or  Benton,  every  Whig  and  Democrat  feels  it. 
See  to  it,  when  Nature  has  provided  you  a  monster  like  Webster, 
that  you  exhibit  him  —  himself  a  whole  menagerie  —  through  the 
country.  .  .  .  No  man,  since  the  age  of  Luther,  has  ever  held  in 
his  hand,  so  palpably,  the  destinies  and  character  of  a  mighty 
people,  as  did  Webster  on  the  seventh  of  March.  He  stood  like 
the  Hebrew  prophet  betwixt  the  living  and  the  dead.  .  .  .  He  gave 
himself  up  into  the  lap  of  the  Delilah  of  slavery,  for  the  mere  prom 
ise  of  a  nomination,  and  the  greatest  hour  of  the  age  was  bartered 
away.  It  is  not  often  that  Providence  permits  the  eyes  of  twenty 
millions  of  thinking  people  to  behold  the  fall  of  another  Lucifer, 
from  the  very  battlements  of  Heaven,  down  into  that  <  lower  deep 
of  the  lowest  deep '  of  hell." 

Again,  he  characterizes  Webster  as  "  Sir  Pertinax  McSyco- 
phant,"  styles  Mr.  Choate  a  "  political  mountebank, "  and  alludes 
to  the  "  cuckoo  lips  of  Edward  Everett."  In  his  lecture  on  "  Idols," 
after  making  various  nations  eulogize  their  great  lawyers,  he  con 
cludes,  "  Then  New  England  shouts,  4  This  is  Choate,  who  made 
it  safe  to  murder,  and  of  whose  health  thieves  asked  before  they 
began  to  steal ! '  " 

Contrasted  with  the  calmness  and  attractiveness  of  Phillips's 
manner,  imagine  the  effect  as  these  thunderbolts  were  hurled.  Keen 
and  graceful  as  a  Damascus  blade,  his  invective,  it  has  been  we'll 
said,  lends  new  meaning  to  the  term  "  philippic."  The  Richmond 
Inquirer,  speaking  of  him  before  the  Civil  War,  said,  "Wendell 
Phillips  is  an  infernal  machine  set  to  music." 

His  speeches  are  full  of  striking  phrases.  Prior  examples  are  illus 
trative.  Following  are  a  few  others,  selected  almost  at  random  : 


158  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

"  The  man  who  launches  a  sound  argument,  who  sets  on  two 
feet  a  startling  fact,  and  bids  it  travel  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  is 
just  as  certain  that  in  the  end  he  will  change  the  government,  as  if, 
to  destroy  the  Capitol,  he  had  placed  gunpowder  under  the  Senate 
Chamber." 

"  The  race  is  rich  enough  to  afford  to  do  without  the  greatest 
intellects  God  ever  let  the  Devil  buy.  Stranded  along  the  past, 
there  are  a  great  many  dried  mummies  of  dead  intellects,  which 
the  race  found  too  heavy  to  drag  forward." 

"  We  may  be  crazy.  Would  to  God  he  would  make  us  all  crazy 
enough  to  forget  for  one  moment  the  cold  deductions  of  intellect, 
and  let  these  hearts  of  ours  beat,  beat,  beat,  under  the  promptings 
of  a  common  humanity." 

"  The  manna  of  popular  liberty  must  be  gathered  each  day,  or 
it  is  rotten.  The  living  sap  of  to-day  outgrows  the  dead  rind  of 
yesterday." 

"  Liberty,  even  in  defeat,  knows  nothing  but  success." 

"  Opinion  is  not  truth,  but  only  truth  filtered  through  the  stand 
point,  the  disposition,  or  the  mood  of  the  spectator." 

"  Marble,  gold,  and  granite  are  not  real ;  the  only  reality  is 
an  idea." 

To  recapitulate  :  Phillips  was  the  orator  of  agitation,  and  from 
this  viewpoint  he  must  be  judged.  He  set  forces  at  work,  but 
could  not  direct  their  future  course.  His  right  to  be  called  a  great 
orator  must  therefore  rest  on  the  immediate  influence  he  exerted. 
And  such  tremendous  power,  according  to  the  uniform  testimony 
of  his  contemporaries,  few  orators  ever  wielded.  His  oratorical 
genius  met  the  demands  of  a  great  national  crisis,  and  as  the  orator 
of  that  crisis  he  stands  without  a  model  and  without  a  peer. 

Often  impatient  and  mistaken  in  judgment,  Phillips  was  never 
theless  a  man  terribly  in  earnest.  To  the  cause  of  abolition  he 
sacrificed  his  social  position,  his  early  friendships,  and  his  profes 
sional  career;  and  he  deserves  the  credit  the  world  ever  pays  to 
the  reformer  and  the  martyr. 

The  oration  in  this  volume,  "  The  Scholar  in  a  Republic, "  was 
the  last  of  Phillips's  more  notable  public  addresses.  It  is  sufficiently 
scholarly  to  fit  the  occasion,  yet  withal  thoroughly  characteristic. 
The  doctrine  of  agitation  is  preached,  and  by  way  of  illustration 
of  the  scholar's  remissness  in  this  work  of  agitation,  almost  every 


PHILLIPS  159 

subject  with  which  Phillips  dealt  during  his  career  is  touched  upon. 
Contrary  to  his  usual  custom,  this  address  was  carefully  written 
out  in  advance  and  committed  to  memory.  Its  wealth  of  allusion 
and  illustration  justifies  Curtis's  description  of  Phillips's  style  as 
"  sparkling  with  richness  of  illustration,  with  apt  allusion  and  his 
toric  parallel,  with  wit  and  pitiless  invective."  Colonel  Higginson, 
who  was  in  the  audience  when  it  was  delivered,  says  that  Phillips 
"  never  seemed  more  at  his  ease,  more  colloquial,  more  thoroughly 
extemporaneous  than  in  this  address.  It  was,  in  some  respects,  the 
most  remarkable  effort  of  his  life.  ...  He  held  an  unwilling  audi 
ence  spellbound,  while  bating  absolutely  nothing  of  radicalism." 


1.  MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  BROTHERS  OF  THE  <£  B  K :  A  hundred 
years  ago  our  society  was  planted,  —  a  slip  from  the  older 
root  in  Virginia.    The  parent  seed,  tradition  says,  was  French, 
—  part  of  that  conspiracy  for  free  speech  whose  leaders  prated 
democracy  in  the  salons,  while  they  carefully  held  on  to  the    5 
fleshpots  of  society  by  crouching  low  to  kings  and  their  mis 
tresses,  and  whose  final  object  of  assault  was  Christianity  itself. 
Voltaire  gave  the  watchword,  "Ecrasez  rinfame,"  —  Crush  the 
wretch.    No  matter  how  much  or  how  little  truth  there  may  be 

in  the  tradition  ;  no  matter  what  was  the  origin  or  what  was  10 
the  object  of  our  society,  if  it  had  any  special  one,  —  both 
are  long  since  forgotten.    We  stand  now  simply  a  representa 
tive  of  free,  brave,  American  scholarship.    I  emphasize  Ameri 
can  scholarship. 

2.  In  one  of  those  glowing,  and  as  yet  unequaled  pictures  15 
which  Everett  drew  for  us,  here  and  elsewhere,  of  Revolution 
ary  scenes,  I  remember  his  saying  that  the  independence  we 
then  won,  if  taken  in  its  literal  and  narrow  sense,  was  of  no 
interest  and  little  value ;  but;  construed  in  the  fullness  of  its 
real  meaning,  it  bound  us  to  a  distinctive  American  character  20 
and  purpose,  to  a  keen  sense  of  large  responsibility,  and  to  a 
generous  self-devotion.    It  is  under  the  shadow  of  such  unques 
tioned  authority  that  I  use  the  term  "  American  scholarship." 


160  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

3.  Our  society  was,  no  doubt,  to  some  extent,  a  protest 
against  the  somber  theology  of  New  England,  where,  a  hundred 
years  ago,  the  atmosphere  was  black  with  sermons,  and  where 
religious  speculation  beat  uselessly  against  the  narrowest  limits. 
5       4.  The  first  generation  of  Puritans  —  though  Lowell  does 
let  Cromwell  call  them  "a  small  colony  of  pinched  fanatics  " 
—  included  some  men,  indeed  not  a  few,  worthy  to  walk  close 
to  Roger  Williams  and  Sir  Harry  Vane,  —  the  two  men  deep 
est  in  thought  and  bravest  in  speech  of  all  who  spoke  English 

10  in  their  day,  and  equal  to  any  in  practical  statesmanship.  Sir 
Harry  Vane,  in  my  judgment  the  noblest  human  being  who 
ever  walked  the  streets  of  yonder  city,  —  I  do  not  forget 
Franklin  or  Sam  Adams,  Washington  or  Lafayette,  Garrison  or 
John  Brown, — but  Vane  dwells  an  arrow's  flight  above  them 

15  all,  and  his  touch  consecrated  the  continent  to  measureless 
toleration  of  opinion  and  entire  equality  of  rights.  We  are 
told  we  can  find  in  Plato  "  all  the  intellectual  life  of  Europe 
for  two  thousand  years";  so  you  can  find  in  Vane  the  pure 
gold  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  American  civilization, 

20  with  no  particle  of  its  dross.  Plato  would  have  welcomed  him 
to  the  Academy,  and  Fenelon  kneeled  with  him  at  the  altar. 
He  made  Somers  and  John  Marshall  possible;  like  Carnot, 
he  organized  victory ;  and  Milton  pales  before  him  in  the  stain- 
lessness  of  his  record.  He  stands  among  English  statesmen 

25  preeminently  the  representative,  in  practice  and  in  theory,  of 
serene  faith  in  the  safety  of  trusting  truth  wholly  to  her  own 
defense.  For  other  men  we  walk  backward,  and  throw  over 
their  memories  the  mantle  of  charity  and  excuse,  saying  rever 
ently,  "  Remember  the  temptation  and  the  age."  But  Vane's 

30  ermine  has  no  stain ;  no  act  of  his  needs  explanation  or  apol 
ogy  ;  and  in  thought  he  stands  abreast  of  our  age,  —  like  pure 
intellect,  belongs  to  all  time. 

5.  Carlyle  said,  in  years  when  his  words  were  worth  heed 
ing,  "  Young  men,  close  your  Byron,  and  open  your  Goethe." 


PHILLIPS  l6l 

If  my  counsel  had  weight  in  these  halls,  I  should  say,  "  Young 
men,  close  your  John  Winthrop,  and  open  Sir  Harry  Vane." 
The  generation  that  knew  Vane  gave  to  our  Alma  Mater  for 
a  seal  the  simple  pledge, —  Veritas. 

6.  But  the  narrowness  and  poverty  of  colonial  life  soon    5 
starved  out  this  element.     Harvard  was  rededicated   Christo 

et  Ecdesiae ;  and  up  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  free 
thought  in  religion  meant  Charles  Chauncey  and  the  Brattle 
Street  Church  protest,  while  free  thought  hardly  existed  any 
where  else.  But  a  single  generation  changed  all  this.  A  hun-  10 
dred  years  ago  there  were  pulpits  that  led  the  popular  move 
ment;  while  outside  of  religion,  and  of  what  called  itself 
literature,  industry  and  a  jealous  sense  of  personal  freedom 
obeyed,  in  their  rapid  growth,  the  law  of  their  natures.  English 
common  sense  and  those  municipal  institutions  born  of  the  15 
common  law,  and  which  had  saved  and  sheltered  it,  grew  in 
evitably  too  large  for  the  eggshell  of  English  dependence,  and 
allowed  it  to  drop  off  as  naturally  as  the  chick  does  when  she 
is  ready.  There  was  no  change  of  law,  nothing  that  could 
properly  be  called  revolution,  only  noiseless  growth,  the  seed  20 
bursting  into  flower,  infancy  becoming  manhood.  It  was  life, 
in  its  omnipotence,  rending  whatever  dead  matter  confined 
it.  So  have  I  seen  the  tiny  weeds  of  a  luxuriant  Italian  spring 
upheave  the  colossal  foundations  of  the  Caesars'  palace,  and 
leave  it  a  mass  of  ruins.  25 

7.  But  when  the  veil  was  withdrawn,  what  stood  revealed 
astonished    the  world.    It  showed   the  undreamt   power,  the 
serene  strength  of  simple  manhood,  free  from  the  burden  and 
restraint  of   absurd   institutions   in   Church   and   State.    The 
grandeur  of  this,  new  Western  constellation  gave  courage  to  30 
Europe,  resulting  in  the  French  Revolution,  the  greatest,  the 
most  unmixed,  the  most  unstained  and  wholly  perfect  blessing 
Europe  has  had   in  modern  times,  unless  we  may  possibly 
except  the  Reformation  and  the  invention  of  printing. 


162  THE   SCHOLAR   IN   A  REPUBLIC 

8.  What  precise  effect  that  giant  wave  had  when  it  struck 
our  shore  we  can  only  guess.  History  is,  for  the  most  part,  an 
idle  amusement,  the  daydream  of  pedants  and  triflers.  The 
details  of  events,  the  actors'  motives,  and  their  relation  to  each 
5  other  are  buried  with  them.  How  impossible  to  learn  the 
exact  truth  of  what  took  place  yesterday  under  your  next 
neighbor's  roof !  Yet  we  complacently  argue  and  speculate 
about  matters  a  thousand  miles  off,  and  a  thousand  years  ago, 
as  if  we  knew  them.  When  I  was  a  student  here,  my  favorite 

10  study  was  history.  The  world  and  affairs  have  shown  me  that 
one  half  of  history  is  loose  conjecture,  and  much  of  the  rest  is 
the  writer's  opinion.  But  most  men  see  facts,  not  with  their 
eyes,  but  with  their  prejudices.  Any  one  familiar  with  courts 
will  testify  how  rare  it  is  for  an  honest  man  to  give  a  perfectly 

15  correct  account  of  a  transaction.  We  are  tempted  to  see  facts 
as  we  think  they  ought  to  be,  or  wish  they  were.  And  yet 
journals  are  the  favorite  original  sources  of  history.  Tremble, 
my  good  friend,  if  your  sixpenny  neighbor  keeps  a  journal. 
"  It  adds  a  new  terror  to  death."  You  shall  go  down  to  your 

20  children  not  in  your  fair  lineaments  and  proportions,  but  with 
the  smirks,  elbows,  and  angles  he  sees  you  with.  Journals  are 
excellent  to  record  the  depth  of  the  last  snow  and  the  date 
when  the  mayflower  opens;  but  when  you  come  to  men's 
motives  and  characters,  journals  are  the  magnets  that  get  near 

25  the  chronometer  of  history  and  make  all  its  records  worthless. 
You  can  count  on  the  fingers  of  your  two  hands  all  the  robust 
minds  that  ever  kept  journals.  Only  milksops  and  fribbles 
indulge  in  that  amusement,  except  now  and  then  a  respectable 
mediocrity.  One  such  journal  nightmares  New  England  annals, 

30  emptied  into  history  by  respectable  middle-aged  gentlemen 
who  fancy  that  narrowness  and  spleen,  like  poor  wine,  mellow 
into  truth  when  they  get  to  be  a  century  old.  But  you  might 
as  well  cite  the  Daily  Advertiser  of  1850  as  authority  on  one 
of  Garrison's  actions. 


PHILLIPS  163 

9.  And,  after  all,  of  what  value  are  these  minutiae?    Whether 
Luther's  zeal  was  partly  kindled  by  lack  of  gain  from  the  sale 
of  indulgences,  whether  Boston  rebels  were  half  smugglers  and 
half  patriots,  what  matters  it  now?    Enough  that  he  meant  to 
wrench  the  gag  from  Europe's  lips,  and  that  they  were  content    5 
to  suffer  keenly,  that  we  might  have  an  untrammeled  career. 
We  can  only  hope  to  discover  the  great  currents  and  massive 
forces  which  have  shaped  our  lives ;  all  else  is  trying  to  solve 

a  problem  of  whose  elements  we  know  nothing.    As  the  poet- 
historian  of  the  last  generation  says  so  plaintively,  "  History  10 
comes  like  a  beggarly  gleaner  in  the  field,  after  Death,  the 
great  lord  of  the  domain,  has  gathered  the  harvest,  and  lodged 
it  in  his  garner,  which  no  man  may  open." 

10.  But  we  may  safely  infer  that  French  debate  and  expe 
rience  broadened  and  encouraged  our  fathers.    To  that  we  15 
undoubtedly  owe,  in  some  degree,  the  theoretical  perfection, 
ingrafted   on   English   practical   sense   and   old  forms,  which 
marks  the  foundation  of  our  republic.    English  civil  life,  up  to 
that  time,  grew  largely  out  of  custom,  rested  almost  wholly  on 
precedent.    For    our  model    there  was    no    authority  in   the  20 
record,  no  precedent  on  the  file ;  unless  you  find  it,  perhaps, 
partially,  in  that  Long  Parliament  bill  with  which  Sir  Harry 
Vane  would   have   outgeneraled   Cromwell,  if   the  shameless 
soldier  had  not  crushed  it  with  his  muskets. 

11.  Standing  on  Saxon  foundations,  and  inspired,  perhaps,  25 
in  some  degree  by  Latin  example,  we  have  done  what  no  race, 
no  nation,  no  age,  had  before  dared  even  to  try.    We  have 
founded  a  republic  on  the  unlimited  suffrage  of  the  millions. 
We  have  actually  worked  out  the  problem  that  man,  as  God 
created  him,  may  be  trusted  with  self-government.    We  have  30 
shown  the  world  that  a  church  without  a  bishop,  and  a  state 
without  a  king,  is  an  actual,  real,  everyday  possibility.    Look 
back  over  the  history  of  the  race ;  where  will  you  find  a  chap 
ter  that  precedes  us  in  that  achievement?    Greece  had  her 


164  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

republics,  but  they  were  the  republics  of  a  few  freemen  and 
subjects  and  many  slaves ;  and  "  the  battle  of  Marathon  was 
fought  by  slaves,  unchained  from  the  doorposts  of  their  mas 
ters'  houses."  Italy  had  her  republics  :  they  were  the  repub- 
5  lies  of  wealth  and  skill  and  family,  limited  and  aristocratic. 
The  Swiss  republics  were  groups  of  cousins.  Holland  had 
her  republic,  a  republic  of  guilds  and  landholders,  trusting  the 
helm  of  state  to  property  and  education.  And  all  these,  which 
at  their  best  held  but  a  million  or  two  within  their  narrow 
10  limits,  have  gone  down  in  the  ocean  of  time. 

12.  A  hundred  years  ago  our  fathers  announced  this  sublime, 
and,  as  it  seemed  then,  foolhardy  declaration,  —  that  God  in 
tended  all  men  to  be  free  and  equal ;  all  men,  without  restric 
tion,  without   qualification,   without  limit.    A  hundred   years 

15  have  rolled  away  since  that  venturous  declaration ;  and  to-day, 
with  a  territory  that  joins  ocean  to  ocean,  with  fifty  millions 
of  people,  with  two  wars  behind  her,  with  the  grand  achieve 
ment  of  having  grappled  with  the  fearful  disease  that  threat 
ened  her  central  life  and  broken  four  millions  of  fetters,  the 

20  great  Republic,  stronger  than  ever,  launches  into  the  second 
century  of  her  existence.  The  history  of  the  world  has  no 
such  chapter  in  its  breadth,  its  depth,  its  significance,  or  its 
bearing  on  future  history. 

13.  What   Wycliffe  did    for    religion,    Jefferson   and    Sam 
25  Adams  did  for  the  state,  —  they  trusted  it  to  the  people.    He 

gave  the  masses  the  Bible,  the  right  to  think.  Jefferson  and  Sam 
Adams  gave  them  the  ballot,  the  right  to  rule.  His  intrepid 
advance  contemplated  theirs  as  its  natural,  inevitable  result. 
Their  serene  faith  completed  the  gift  which  the  Anglo-Saxon 
30  race  makes  to  humanity.  We  have  not  only  established  a  new 
measure  of  the  possibilities  of  the  race ;  we  have  laid  on 
strength,  wisdom,  and  skill  a  new  responsibility.  Grant  that 
each  man's  relations  to  God  and  his  neighbor  are  exclusively 
his  own  concern,  and  that  he  is  entitled  to  all  the  aid  that 


PHILLIPS  165 

will  make  him  the  best  judge  of  these  relations;  that  the 
people  are  the  source  of  all  power,  and  their  measureless  ca 
pacity  the  lever  of  all  progress ;  their  sense  of  right  the  court 
of  final  appeal  in  civil  affairs ;  the  institutions  they  create  the 
only  ones  any  power  has  a  right  to  impose ;  that  the  attempt  5 
of  one  class  to  prescribe  the  law,  the  religion,  the  morals,  or 
the  trade  of  another  is  both  unjust  and  harmful,  —  and  the 
Wycliffe  and  Jefferson  of  history  mean  this  if  they  mean  any 
thing, —  then,  when  in  1867  Parliament  doubled  the  English 
franchise,  Robert  Lowe  was  right  in  affirming,  amid  the  cheers  10 
of  the  House,  "  Now  the  first  interest  and  duty  of  every 
Englishman  is  to  educate  the  masses  —  our  masters."  Then, 
whoever  sees  farther  than  his  neighbor  is  that  neighbor's  serv 
ant  to  lift  him  to  such  higher  level.  Then,  power,  ability, 
influence,  character,  virtue,  are  only  trusts  with  which  to  serve  15 
our  time. 

14.  We  all  agree  in  the  duty  of  scholars  to  help  those  less 
favored  in  life,  and  that  this  duty  of  scholars  to  educate  the 
mass  is  still  more  imperative  in  a  republic,  since  a  republic 
trusts  the  state  wholly  to  the  intelligence  and  moral  sense  of  20 
the  people.    The  experience  of  the  last  forty  years  shows  every 
man  that  law  has  no  atom  of  strength,  either  in  Boston  or 
New  Orleans,  unless,  and  only  so  far  as,  public  opinion  in 
dorses  it,  and  that  your  life,  goods,  and  good  name  rest  on  the 
moral  sense,  self-respect,  and  law-abiding  mood  of  the  men  25 
that  walk  the  streets,  and  hardly  a  whit  on  the  provisions  of 
the  statute  book.    Come,  any  one  of  you,  outside  of  the  ranks 

of  popular  men,  and  you  will  not  fail  to  find  it  so.    Easy  men 
dream  that  we  live  under  a  government  of  law.    Absurd  mis 
take  !  we  live  under  a  government  of  men  and  newspapers.  30 
Your  first  attempt  to   stem  dominant  and   keenly  cherished 
opinions  will  reveal  this  to  you. 

15.  But  what  is  education?    Of  course  it  is  not  book  learn 
ing.    Book  learning  does  not  make  five  per  cent  of  that  mass 


166  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

of  common  sense  that  "  runs  "  the  world,  transacts  its  busi 
ness,  secures  its  progress,  trebles  its  power  over  nature,  works 
out  in  the  long  run  a  rough  average  justice,  wears  away  the 
world's  restraints,  and  lifts  off  its  burdens.  The  ideal  Yankee, 
5  who  "  has  more  brains  in  his  hand  than  others  have  in  their 
skulls,"  is  not  a  scholar;  and  two  thirds  of  the  inventions 
that  enable  France  to  double  the  world's  sunshine,  and  make 
Old  and  New  England  the  workshops  of  the  world,  did  not 
come  from  colleges  or  from  minds  trained  in  the  schools  of 

10  science,  but  struggled  up,  forcing  their  way  against  giant  ob 
stacles,  from  the  irrepressible  instinct  of  untrained  natural 
power.  Her  workshops,  not  her  colleges,  made  England,  for 
a  while,  the  mistress  of  the  world ;  and  the  hardest  job  her 
workman  had  was  to  make  Oxford  willing  he  should  work  his 

15  wonders. 

1 6.  So  of  moral  gains.  As  shrewd  an  observer  as  Governor 
Marcy,  of  New  York,  often  said  he  cared  nothing  for  the  whole 
press  of  the  seaboard,  representing  wealth  and  education  (he 
meant  book  learning),  if  it  set  itself  against  the  instincts  of 

20  the  people.  Lord  Brougham,  in  a  remarkable  comment  on 
the  life  of  Romilly,  enlarges  on  the  fact  that  the  great  reformer 
of  the  penal  law  found  all  the  legislative  and  all  the  judicial 
power  of  England,  its  colleges  and  its  bar,  marshaled  against 
him,  and  owed  his  success,  as  all  such  reforms  do,  says  his 

25  lordship,  to  public  meetings  and  popular  instinct.  It  would 
be  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  government  itself  began  in 
usurpation,  in  the  feudalism  of  the  soldier  and  the  bigotry  of 
the  priest ;  that  liberty  and  civilization  are  only  fragments  of 
rights  wrung  from  the  strong  hands  of  wealth  and  book  learn- 

30  ing.  Almost  all  the  great  truths  relating  to  society  were  not 
the  result  of  scholarly  meditation,  "  hiving  up  wisdom  with 
each  curious  year,"  but  have  been  first  heard  in  the  solemn 
protests  of  martyred  patriotism  and  the  loud  cries  of  crushed 
and  starving  labor.  When  common  sense  and  the  common 


PHILLIPS  167 

people  have  stereotyped  a  principle  into  a  statute,  then  book 
men  come  to  explain  how  it  was  discovered  and  on  what 
ground  it  rests.  The  world  makes  history,  and  scholars  write 
it,  —  one  half  truly  and  the  other  half  as  their  prejudices  blur 
and  distort  it.  5 

17.  New  England  learned  more  of  the  principles  of  tolera 
tion  from  a  lyceum  committee  doubting  the  dicta  of  editors 
and  bishops  when  they  forbade  it  to  put  Theodore  Parker, 
on  its  platform ;  more  from  a  debate  whether  the  antislavery 
cause  should  be  so  far  countenanced  as  to  invite  one  of  its  10 
advocates    to    lecture ;    from   Sumner   and   Emerson,   George 
William  Curtis  and  Edward  Whipple,  refusing  to  speak  unless 

a  negro  could  buy  his  way  into  their  halls  as  freely  as  any 
other,  —  New  England  has  learned  more  from  these  lessons 
than  she  has  or  could  have  done  from  all  the  treatises  on  free  15 
printing  from  Milton  and  Roger  Williams  through  Locke  down 
to  Stuart  Mill. 

1 8.  Selden,  the  profoundest  scholar  of  his  day,  affirmed, 
"  No  man  is  wiser  for  his  learning  " ;  and  that  was  only  an  echo 

of  the  Saxon  proverb,  "  No  fool  is  a  perfect  fool  until  he  learns  20 
Latin."    Bancroft  says  of  our  fathers,  that  "  the  wildest  theories 
of  the  human  reason  were  reduced  to  practice  by  a  community 
so  humble  that  no  statesman  condescended  to  notice  it,  and 
a  legislation  without  precedent  was  produced  offhand  by  the 
instincts  of  the  people."    And  Wordsworth  testifies,  that,  while  25 
German  schools  might  well  blush  for  their  subserviency  - 

A  few  strong  instincts  and  a  few  plain  rules, 

Among  the  herdsmen  of  the  Alps,  have  wrought 

More  for  mankind  at  this  unhappy  day 

Than  all  the  pride  of  intellect  and  thought.  30 

19.  Wycliffe  was,  no  doubt,  a  learned  man.    But  the  learn 
ing  of  his  day  would  have  burned  him,  had  it  dared,  as  it  did 
burn  his  dead  body  afterwards.    Luther  and  Melanchthon  were 


168  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

scholars,  but  they  were  repudiated  by  the  scholarship  of  their 
time,  which  followed  Erasmus,  trying  "  all  his  life  to  tread  on 
eggs  without  breaking  them"  ;  he  who  proclaimed  that  "  peace 
ful  error  was  better  than  tempestuous  truth."  What  would 
5  college-graduate  Seward  weigh,  in  any  scale,  against  Lincoln, 
bred  in  affairs? 

20.  Hence,  I  do  not  think  the  greatest  things  have  been 
done  for  the  world  by  its  bookmen.  Education  is  not  the  chips 
of  arithmetic  and  grammar,  —  nouns,  verbs,  and  the  multipli- 

10  cation  table ;  neither  is  it  that  last  year's  almanac  of  dates,  or 
series  of  lies  agreed  upon,  which  we  so  often  mistake  for  his 
tory.  Education  is  not  Greek  and  Latin  and  the  air  pump. 
Still,  I  rate  at  its  full  value  the  training  we  get  in  these  walls. 
Though  what  we  actually  carry  away  is  little  enough,  we  do 

15  get  some  training  of  our  powers,  as  the  gymnast  or  the  fen 
cer  does  of  his  muscles ;  we  go  hence  also  with  such  general 
knowledge  of  what  mankind  has  agreed  to  consider  proved 
and  settled,  that  we  know  where  to  reach  for  the  weapon  when 
we  need  it. 

20  21.  I  have  often  thought  the  motto  prefixed  to  his  college 
library  catalogue  by  the  father  of  the  late  Professor  Peirce,  — 
Professor  Peirce,  the  largest  natural  genius,  the  man  of  the 
deepest  reach  and  firmest  grasp  and  widest  sympathy,  that 
God  has  given  to  Harvard  in  our  day,  whose  presence  made 

25  you  the  loftiest  peak  and  farthest  outpost  of  more  than  mere 

scientific  thought,  the  magnet  who,  with  his  twin,  Agassiz,  made 

Harvard  for  forty  years  the  intellectual  Mecca  of  forty  sta'tes, 

—  his  father's  catalogue  bore  for  a  motto,  Scire  ubi  aliquid 

invenias  magna  pars  eruditionis  est ;  and  that  always  seemed 

30  to  me  to  gauge  very  nearly  all  we  acquired  at  college,  except 
facility  in  the  use  of  our  powers.  Our  influence  in  the  com 
munity  does  not  really  spring  from  superior  attainments,  but 
from  this  thorough  training  of  faculties,  and  more  even,  perhaps, 
from  the  deference  men  accord  to  us. 


PHILLIPS  169 

22.  Gibbon    says    we    have    two    educations,  —  one   from 
teachers,  and  the  other  we  give  ourselves.    This  last  is  the  real 
and  only  education  of  the  masses,  —  one  gotten  from  life,  from 
affairs,  from  earning  one's  bread;   necessity,  the  mother  of 
invention;  responsibility,  that  teaches  prudence,  and  inspires    5 
respect  for  right.    Mark  the  critic  out  of  office ;  how  reckless 

in  assertion,  how  careless  of  consequences ;  and  then  the  cau 
tion,  forethought,  and  fair  play  of  the  same  man  charged  with 
administration.  See  that  young,  thoughtless  wife  suddenly 
widowed ;  how  wary  and  skillful,  what  ingenuity  in  guarding  her  10 
child  and  saving  his  rights  !  Any  one  who  studied  Europe  forty 
or  fifty  years  ago  could  not  but  have  marked  the  level  of  talk 
there,  far  below  that  of  our  masses.  It  was  of  crops  and  rents, 
markets  and  marriages,  scandal  and  fun.  Watch  men  here, 
and  how  often  you  listen  to  the  keenest  discussions  of  right  and  15 
wrong,  this  leader's  honesty,  that  party's  justice,  the  fairness  of 
this  law,  the  impolicy  of  that  measure,  —  lofty,  broad  topics, 
training  morals,  widening  views.  Niebuhr  said  of  Italy,  sixty 
years  ago,  "  No  one  feels  himself  a  citizen.  Not  only  are  the 
people  destitute  of  hope,  but  they  have  not  even  wishes  touch-  20 
ing  the  world's  affairs  ;  and  hence  all  the  springs  of  great  and 
noble  thoughts  are  choked  up." 

23.  In  this  sense  the  Fremont  campaign  of  1856  taught 
Americans  more  than  a  hundred  colleges  ;  and  John  Brown's 
pulpit  at  Harper's  Ferry  was  equal  to  any  ten  thousand  ordi-  25 
nary  chairs.    God  lifted  a  million  of  hearts  to  his  gibbet,  as  the 
Roman  cross  lifted  a  world  to  itself  in  that  divine  sacrifice  of 
two  thousand  years  ago.    As  much  as  statesmanship  had  taught 

in  our  previous  eighty  years,  that  one  week  of  intellectual  watch 
ing  and  weighing  and  dividing  truth  taught  twenty  millions  of  30 
people.  Yet  how  little,  brothers,  can  we  claim  for  bookmen 
in  that  uprising  and  growth  of  1856  !  And  while  the  first  of 
American  scholars  could  hardly  find  in  the  rich  vocabulary 
of  Saxon  scorn  words  enough  to  express,  amid  the  plaudits  of 


170  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

his  class,  his  loathing  and  contempt  for  John  Brown,  Europe 
thrilled  to  him  as  proof  that  our  institutions  had  not  lost  all 
their  native  and  distinctive  life.  She  had  grown  tired  of  our 
parrot  note  and  cold  moonlight  reflection  of  older  civilizations. 
5  Lansdowne  and  Brougham  could  confess  to  Sumner  that  they 
had  never  read  a  page  of  their  contemporary,  Daniel  Webster  ; 
and  you  spoke  to  vacant  eyes  when  you  named  Prescott,  fifty 
years  ago,  to  average  Europeans ;  while  Vienna  asked,  with 
careless  indifference,  "Seward,  who  is  he?"  But  long  before 
10  our  ranks  marched  up  State  Street  to  the  John  Brown  song, 
the  banks  of  the  Seine  and  of  the  Danube  hailed  the  new  life 
which  had  given  us  another  and  nobler  Washington.  Lowell 
foresaw  him  when,  forty  years  ago,  he  sang  of,  — 

Truth  forever  on  the  scaffold,  wrong  forever  on  the  throne ; 
15  Yet  that  scaffold  sways  the  future,  and  behind  the  dim  unknown 
Standeth  God,  within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch  above  His  own. 

And    yet    the   bookmen,    as  a  class,   have  not  yet  acknowl 
edged  him. 

24.  It  is  here  that  letters  betray  their  lack  of  distinctive 

20  American  character.  Fifty  millions  of  men  God  gives  us  to 
mold  ;  burning  questions,  keen  debate,  great  interests  trying 
to  vindicate  their  right  to  be,  sad  wrongs  brought  to  the  bar 
of  public  judgment,  —  these  are  the  people's  schools.  Timid 
scholarship  either  shrinks  from  sharing  in  these  agitations,  or 

25  denounces  them  as  vulgar  and  dangerous  interference  by  incom 
petent  hands  with  matters  above  them.  A  chronic  distrust  of 
the  people  pervades  the  book-educated  class  of  the  North; 
they  shrink  from  that  free  speech  which  is  God's  normal  school 
for  educating  men,  throwing  upon  them  the  grave  responsibility 

30  of  deciding  great  questions,  and  so  lifting  them  to  a  higher 
level  of  intellectual  and  moral  life.  Trust  the  people  —  the 
wise  and  the  ignorant,  the  good  and  the  bad  —  with  the  gravest 
questions,  and  in  the  end  you  educate  the  race.  At  the  same 
time  you  secure,  not  perfect  institutions,  not  necessarily  good 


PHILLIPS  i;i 

ones,  but  the  best  institutions  possible  while  human  nature  is 
the  basis  and  the  only  material  to  build  with.  Men  are  edu 
cated  and  the  State  uplifted  by  allowing  all  —  every  one  —  to 
broach  all  their  mistakes  and  advocate  all  their  errors.  The 
community  that  will  not  protect  its  most  ignorant  and  unpop-  5 
ular  member  in  the  free  utterance  of  his  opinions,  no  matter 
how  false  or  hateful,  is  only  a  gang  of  slaves  ! 

25.  Anacharsis  went  into   the   Archon's  court  at  Athens, 
heard  a  case  argued  by  the  great  men  of  that  city,  and  saw 
the  vote  by  five  hundred  men.    Walking  in  the  streets,  some  10 
one  asked  him,  "What  do  you  think  of  Athenian  liberty?" 
"I  think,"  said  he,  "wise  men  argue  cases,  and  fools  decide 
them."    Just  what  that  timid  scholar,  two  thousand  years  ago, 
said  in  the  streets  of  Athens,  that  which  calls  itself  scholarship 
here  says  to-day  of  popular  agitation,  —  that  it  lets  wise  men  15 
argue  questions  and  fools  decide  them.    But  that  Athens,  where 
fools  decided  the  gravest  questions  of  policy  and  of  right  and 
wrong,  where  property  you  had  gathered  wearily  to-day  might  be 
wrung  from  you  by  the  caprice  of  the  mob  to-morrow,  —  that 
very  Athens  probably  secured,  for  its  era,  the  greatest  amount  20 
of  human  happiness  and  nobleness,  invented  art,  and  sounded 
for  us  the  depths  of  philosophy.    God  lent  to  it  the  largest 
intellects,  and  it  flashes  to-day  the  torch   that  gilds  yet  the 
mountain  peaks  of  the  Old  World.    While  Egypt,  the  hunker 
conservative  of  antiquity,  where  nobody  dared  to  differ  from  25 
the  priest  or  to  be  wiser  than  his  grandfather  ;   where  men 
pretended  to  be  alive,  though  swaddled  in  the  graveclothes 

of  creed   and   custom   as   close  as   their   mummies   were   in 
linen,  —  that   Egypt  is    hid   in   the    tomb   it  inhabited,   and 
the    intellect  Athens    has   trained   for    us    digs    to-day  those  30 
ashes  to  find  out  how  buried  and  forgotten  hunkerism  lived 
and  acted. 

26.  I  knew  a  signal  instance  of  this  disease  of  scholar's  dis 
trust,  and  the  cure  was  as  remarkable.    In  boyhood  and  early 


172  THE    SCHOLAR    IN  A  REPUBLIC 

1  e  I  was  honored  with  the  friendship  of  Lothrop  Motley.  He 
p  ew  up  in  the  thin  air  of  Boston  provincialism,  and  pined  on 
such  weak  diet.  I  remember  sitting  with  him  once  in  the  State- 
house  when  he  was  a  member  of  our  legislature.  With  biting 

5  words  and  a  keen  crayon  he  sketched  the  ludicrous  points  in 
the  minds  and  persons  of  his  fellow-members,  and  tearing  up 
the  pictures,  said  scornfully,  "  What  can  become  of  a  country 
with  such  fellows  as  these  making  its  laws?  No  safe  invest 
ments  ;  your  good  name  lied  away  any  hour,  and  little  worth 

10  keeping  if  it  were  not."  In  vain  I  combated  the  folly.  He 
went  to  Europe  ;  spent  four  or  five  years.  I  met  him  the  day 
he  landed  on  his  return.  As  if  our  laughing  talk  in  the  State- 
house  had  that  moment  ended,  he  took  my  hand  with  the 
sudden  exclamation,  "  You  were  all  right ;  I  was  all  wrong ! 

15  It  is  a  country  worth  dying  for  ;  better  still,  worth  living  and 
working  for,  to  make  it  all  it  can  be  !"  Europe  made  him 
one  of  the  most  American  of  all  Americans.  Some  five  years 
later,  when  he  sounded  the  bugle  note  in  his  letter  to  the 
London  Times,  some  critics  who  knew  his  early  mood,  but  not 

20  its  change,  suspected  there  might  be  a  taint  of  ambition  in 
what  they  thought  so  sudden  a  conversion.  I  could  testify 
that  the  mood  was  five  years  old,  —  years  before  the  slightest 
shadow  of  political  expectation  had  dusked  the  clear  mirror  of 
his  scholar  life. 

25  27-.  This  distrust  shows  itself  in  the  growing  dislike  of  uni 
versal  suffrage,  and  the  efforts  to  destroy  it  made  of  late  by  all 
our  easy  classes.  The  white  South  hates  universal  suffrage  ;  the 
so-called  North  distrusts  it.  Journal  and  college,  social-science 
convention  and  pulpit,  discuss  the  propriety  of  restraining  it. 

30  Timid  scholars  tell  their  dread  of  it.  Carlyle,  that  bundle  of 
sour  prejudices,  flouts  universal  suffrage  with  a  blasphemy  that 
almost  equals  its  ignorance.  See  his  words  :  "  Democracy  will 
prevail  when  men  believe  the  vote  of  Judas  as  good  as  that  of 
Jesus  Christ."  No  democracy  ever  claimed  that  the  vote  of 


PHILLIPS  173 

ignorance  and  crime  was  as  good  in  any  sense  as  that  of  wisdom 
and  virtue.  It  only  asserts  that  crime  and  ignorance  have  the 
same  right  to  vote  that  virtue  has.  Only  by  allowing  that  right, 
and  so  appealing  to  their  sense  of  justice,  and  throwing  upon 
them  the  burden  of  their  full  responsibility,  can  we  hope  ever  5 
to  raise  crime  and  ignorance  to  the  level  of  self-respect.  The 
right  to  choose  your  governor  rests  on  precisely  the  same 
foundation  as  the  right  to  choose  your  religion ;  and  no  more 
arrogant  or  ignorant  arraignment  of  all  that  is  noble  in  the  civil 
and  religious  Europe  of  the  last  five  hundred  years  ever  came  10 
from  the  triple  crown  on  the  Seven  Hills  than  this  sneer  of 
the  bigot  Scotsman.  Protestantism  holds  up  its  hands  in  holy 
horror,  and  tells  us  that  the  Pope  scoops  out  the  brains  of  his 
churchmen,  saying,  "  I'll  think  for  you  ;  you  need  only  obey." 
But  the  danger  is,  you  meet  such  popes  far  away  from  the  15 
Seven  Hills  ;  and  it  is  sometimes  difficult  at  first  to  recog 
nize  them,  for  they  do  not  by  any  means  always  wear  the 
triple  crown. 

28.  Evarts  and  his  committee,  appointed  to  inquire  why  the 
New  York  City  government  is  a  failure,  were  not  wise  enough,  20 
or  did  not  dare,  to  point  out  the  real  cause,  —  the  tyranny  of 
that  tool  of  the  demagogue,  the  comer  grogshop  ;  but  they 
advised  taking  away  the  ballot  from  the  poor  citizen.    But  this 
provision  would  not  reach  the  evil.    Corruption  does  not  so 
much  rot  the  masses;   it  poisons  Congress.     Credit  Mobilicr  2  5 
and  money  rings  are  not  housed  under  thatched  roofs  ;  they 
flaunt  at  the  Capitol.    As  usual  in  chemistry,  the  scum  floats 
uppermost.    The  railway  king  disdained  canvassing  for  voters  : 

"  It  is  cheaper,"  he  said,  "  to  buy  legislatures." 

29.  It  is  not  the  masses  who  have  most  disgraced  our  polit-  30 
ical  annals.     I  have  seen  many  mobs  between  the  seaboard 
and  the  Mississippi.    I  never  saw  or  heard  of  any  but  well- 
dressed  mobs,  assembled  and  countenanced,  if  not  always  led 

in  person,  by  respectability  and  what  called  itself  education. 


THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

That  unrivaled  scholar,  the  first  and  greatest  New  England  ever 
lent  to  Congress,  signaled  his  advent  by  quoting  the  original 
Greek  of  the  New  Testament  in  support  of  slavery,  and  offer 
ing  to  shoulder  his  musket  in  its  defense  ;  and  forty  years  later 
5  the  last  professor  who  went  to  quicken  and  lift  the  moral  mood 
of  those  halls  is  found  advising  a  plain,  blunt,  honest  witness 
to  forge  and  lie,  that  this  scholarly  reputation  might  be  saved 
from  wreck.  Singular  comment  on  Landor's  sneer,  that  there 
is  a  spice  of  the  scoundrel  in  most  of  our  literary  men.  But 
10  no  exacting  level  of  property  qualification  for  a  vote  would 
have  saved  those  stains.  In  those  cases  Judas  did  not  come 
from  the  unlearned  class. 

30.  Grown  gray  over  history,  Macaulay  prophesied  twenty 
years  ago  that  soon  in  these  States  the  poor,  worse  than  another 

15  inroad  of  Goths  and  Vandals,  would  begin  a  general  plunder 
of  the  rich.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  our  national  funds  sell  as 
well  in  Europe  as  English  consols ;  and  the  universal-suffrage 
Union  can  borrow  money  as  cheaply  as  Great  Britain,  ruled, 
one  half  by  Tories,  and  the  other  half  by  men  not  certain  that 

20  they  dare  call  themselves  Whigs.  Some  men  affected  to  scoff 
at  democracy  as  no  sound  basis  for  national  debt,  doubting  the 
payment  of  ours.  Europe  not  only  wonders  at  its  rapid  pay 
ment,  but  the  only  taint  of  fraud  that  touches  even  the  hem 
of  our  garment  is  the  fraud  of  the  capitalist  cunningly  adding 

25  to  its  burdens,  and  increasing  unfairly  the  value  of  his  bonds; 
not  the  first  hint  from  the  people  of  repudiating  an  iota  of  its 
unjust  additions. 

31.  Yet  the  poor  and  the  unlearned  class  is  the  one  they 
propose  to  punish  by  disfranchisement.    No  wonder  the  hum- 

30  bier  class  looks  on  the  whole  scene  with  alarm.  They  see  their 
dearest  right  in  peril.  When  the  easy  class  conspires  to  steal, 
what  wonder  the  humbler  class  draws  together  to  defend  itself? 
True,  universal  suffrage  is  a  terrible  power;  and  with  all  the 
great  cities  brought  into  subjection  to  the  dangerous  classes 


PHILLIPS  175 

by  grog,  and  Congress  sitting  to  register  the  decrees  of  cap 
ital,  both  sides  may  well  dread  the  next  move.  Experience 
proves  that  popular  governments  are  the  best  protectors  of 
life  and  property.  But  suppose  they  were  not,  Bancroft  allows 
that  "the  fears  of  one  class  are  no  measure  of  the  rights  of  5 
another." 

32.  Suppose  that  universal  suffrage  endangered  peace  and 
threatened  property.    There  is  something  more  valuable  than 
wealth,  there  is  something  more  sacred  than  peace.    As  Hum- 
boldt  says,  "  The  finest  fruit  earth  holds  up  to  its  Maker  is  10 
a  man."    To  ripen,  lift,  and  educate  a  man  is  the  first  duty. 
Trade,  law,  learning,  science,  and  religion  are  only  the  scaf 
folding  wherewith  to  build  a  man.    Despotism  looks  down  into 
the  poor  man's  cradle,  and  knows  it  can  crush  resistance  and 
curb  ill  will.    Democracy  sees  the  ballot  in  that  baby  hand;  15 
and  selfishness  bids  her  put  integrity  on  one  side  of  those  baby 
footsteps  and  intelligence  on  the  other,  lest  her  own  hearth  be 

in  peril.    Thank  God  for  His  method  of  taking  bonds  of  wealth 
and  culture  to  share  all  their  blessings  with  the  humblest  soul 
He  gives  to  their  keeping  !    The  American  should  cherish  as  20 
serene  a  faith  as  his  fathers  had.    Instead  of  seeking  a  coward 
safety  by  battening  down  the  hatches  and  putting  men  back 
into  chains,  he  should  recognize  that  God  places  him  in  this 
peril  that  he  may  work  out  a  noble  security  by  concentrating 
all  moral  forces  to  lift  this  weak,  rotting,  and  dangerous  mass  25 
into  sunlight  and  health.    The  fathers  touched  their  highest 
level  when,  with  stout-hearted  and  serene  faith,  they  trusted 
God  that  it  was  safe  to  leave  men  with  all  the  rights  he  gave 
them.    Let  us  be  worthy  of  their  blood,  and  save  this  sheet 
anchor  of  the  race,  —  universal  suffrage,  —  God's  church,  God's  30 
school,  God's  method  of  gently  binding  men  into  common 
wealths  in  order  that  they  may  at  last  melt  into  brothers. 

33.  I  urge  on  college-bred  men,  that,  as  a  class,  they  fail  in 
republican  duty  when  they  allow  others  to  lead  in  the  agitation 


176  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

of  the  great  social  questions  which  stir  and  educate  the  age. 
Agitation  is  an  old  word  with  a  new  meaning.  Sir  Robert  Peel, 
the  first  English  leader  who  felt  himself  its  tool,  defined  it  to 
be  "marshaling  the  conscience  of  a  nation  to  mold  its  laws." 
5  Its  means  are  reason  and  argument,  —  no  appeal  to  arms.  Wait 
patiently  for  the  growth  of  public  opinion.  That  secured,  then 
every  step  taken  is  taken  forever.  An  abuse  once  removed  never 
reappears  in  history.  The  freer  a  nation  becomes,  the  more 
utterly  democratic  in  its  form,  the  more  need  of  this  outside 

10  agitation.  Parties  and  sects  laden  with  the  burden  of  securing 
their  own  success  cannot  afford  to  risk  new  ideas.  "  Predom 
inant  opinions,"  said  Disraeli,  "  are  the  opinions  of  a  class  that 
is  vanishing."  The  agitator  must  stand  outside  of  organiza 
tions,  with  no  bread  to  earn,  no  candidate  to  elect,  no  party  to 

15  save,  no  object  but  truth,  —  to  tear  a  question  open  and  riddle 
it  with  light. 

34.  In  all  modem  constitutional  governments,  agitation  is  the 
only  peaceful  method  of  progress.  Wilberforce  and  Clarkson, 
Rowland  Hill  and  Romilly,  Cobden  and  John  Bright,  Garrison 

20  and  O'Connell,  have  been  the  master  spirits  in  this  new  form 
of  crusade.  Rarely  in  this  country  have  scholarly  men  joined, 
as  a  class,  in  these  great  popular  schools,  in  these  social  move 
ments  which  make  the  great  interests  of  society  "  crash  and 
jostle  against  each  other  like  frigates  in  a  storm." 

25  35.  It  is  not  so  much  that  the  people  need  us,  or  will  feel 
any  lack  from  our  absence.  They  can  do  without  us.  By 
sovereign  and  superabundant  strength  they  can  crush  their  way 
through  all  obstacles. 

They  will  march  prospering,  —  not  through  our  presence  ; 
30  Songs  will  inspirit  them,  —  not  from  our  lyre  ; 

Deeds  will  be  done,  —  while  we  boast  our  quiescence, 
Still  bidding  crouch  whom  the  rest  bid  aspire. 

The  misfortune  is,  we  lose  a  God-given  opportunity  of  making 
the  change  an  unmixed  good,  or  with  the  slightest  possible 


PHILLIPS  177 

share  of  evil,  and  are  recreant  besides  to  special  duty.  These 
"  agitations  "  are  the  opportunities  and  the  means  God  offers 
us  to  refine  the  taste,  mold  the  character,  lift  the  purpose, 
and  educate  the  moral  sense  of  the  masses  on  whose  intelligence 
and  self-respect  rests  the  State.  God  furnishes  these  texts.  5 
He  gathers  for  us  this  audience,  and  only  asks  of  our  coward 
lips  to  preach  the  sermons. 

36.  There  have  been  four  or  five  of  these  great  opportuni 
ties.    The  crusade  against  slavery  —  that  grand  hypocrisy  which 
poisoned  the  national  life  of  two  generations  —  was  one,  —  a  10 
conflict  between  two  civilizations  which  threatened  to  rend  the 
Union.    Almost  every  element  among  us  was  stirred  to  take 

a  part  in  the  battle.  Every  great  issue,  civil  and  moral,  was 
involved,  —  toleration  of  opinion,  limits  of  authority,  relation 
of  citizen  to  law,  place  of  the  Bible,  priest  and  layman,  sphere  15 
of  woman,  question  of  race,  State  rights  and  nationality ;  and 
Channing  testified  that  free  speech  and  free  printing  owed 
their  preservation  to  the  struggle.  But  the  pulpit  flung  the 
Bible  at  the  reformer  ;  law  visited  him  with  its  penalties  ;  so 
ciety  spewed  him  out  of  its  mouth  ;  bishops  expurgated  the  20 
pictures  of  their  Common  Prayer  Books  ;  and  editors  omitted 
pages  in  republishing  English  history  ;  even  Pierpont  emascu 
lated  his  Class-book  ;  Bancroft  remodeled  his  chapters  ;  and 
Everett  carried  Washington  through  thirty  states,  remember 
ing  to  forget  the  brave  words  the  wise  Virginian  had  left  on  25 
record  warning  his  countrymen  of  this  evil.  Amid  this  battle 
of  the  giants,  scholarship  sat  dumb  for  thirty  years  until  immi 
nent  deadly  peril  convulsed  it  into  action,  and  colleges,  in  their 
despair,  gave  to  the  army  that  help  they  had  refused  to  the 
market  place  and  the  rostrum.  30 

37.  There  was  here  and  there  an  exception.    That  earth 
quake  scholar  at  Concord,  whose  serene  word,  like  a  whisper 
among  the  avalanches,  topples  down  superstitions  and  preju 
dices,  was  at  his  post,  and  with  half  a  score  of  others,  made 


178  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

the  exception  that  proved  the  rule.  Pulpits,  just  so  far  as  they 
could  not  boast  of  culture  and  nestled  closest  down  among 
the  masses,  were  infinitely  braver  than  the  "  spires  and  antique 
towers  "  of  stately  collegiate  institutions. 

5  38.  Then  came  reform  of  penal  legislation,  —  the  effort  to 
make  law  mean  justice,  and  substitute  for  its  barbarism  Chris 
tianity  and  civilization.  In  Massachusetts,  Rantoul  represents 
Beccaria  and  Livingston,  Mackintosh  and  Romilly.  I  doubt  if 
he  ever  had  one  word  of  encouragement  from  Massachusetts 

10  letters  ;  and  with  a  single  exception,  I  have  never  seen,  till 
within  a  dozen  years,  one  that  could  be  called  a  scholar  active 
in  moving  the  legislature  to  reform  its  code. 

39.  The  London  Times  proclaimed,  twenty  years  ago,  that 
intemperance  produced  more  idleness,  crime,  disease,  want, 

1 5  misery,  than  all  other  causes  put  together  ;  and  the  West 
minster  Review  calls  it  a  "  curse  that  far  eclipses  every  other 
calamity  under  which  we  suffer."  Gladstone,  speaking  as  prime 
minister,  admitted  that  "  greater  calamities  are  inflicted  on 
mankind  by  intemperance  than  by  the  three  great  historical 

20  scourges,  —  war,  pestilence,  and  famine."  De  Quincey  says, 
"The  most  remarkable  instance  of  a  combined  movement  in 
society  which  history,  perhaps,  will  be  summoned  to  notice,  is 
that  which,  in  our  day,  has  applied  itself  to  the  abatement  of 
intemperance.  Two  vast  movements  are  hurrying  into  action 

25  by  velocities  continually  accelerated,  —  the  great  revolutionary 
movement  from  political  causes,  concurring  with  the  great 
physical  movement  in  locomotion  and  social  intercourse  from 
the  gigantic  power  of  steam.  At  the  opening  of  such  a  crisis, 
had  no  third  movement  arisen  of  resistance  to  intemperate 

30  habits,  there  would  have  been  ground  of  despondency  as  to 
the  melioration  of  the  human  race."  These  are  English  testi 
monies,  where  the  State  rests  more  than  half  on  bayonets. 
Here  we  are  trying  to  rest  the  ballot  box  on  a  drunken  people. 
"We  can  rule  a  great  city,"  said  Sir  Robert  Peel,  "America 


PHILLIPS  1/9 

cannot";  and  he  cited  the  mobs  of. New  York  as  sufficient 
proof  of  his  assertion. 

40.  Thoughtful  men  see  that  up  to  this  hour  the  government 
of  great  cities  has  been  with  us  a  failure ;  that  worse  than  the 
dry  rot  of  legislative  corruption,  than  the  rancor  of  party  spirit,     5 
than  Southern  barbarism,  than  even  the  tyranny  of  incorpo 
rated   wealth,  is  the   giant  burden   of  intemperance,  making 
universal  suffrage  a  failure  and  a  curse  in  every  great  city. 
Scholars  who  play  statesmen,  and  editors  who  masquerade  as 
scholars,  can  waste  much  excellent  anxiety  that  clerks  shall  get  10 
no  office  until  they  know  the  exact  date  of  Caesar's  assassination, 

as  well  as  the  latitude  of  Pekin,  and  the  Rule  of  Three.  But 
while  this  crusade  —  the  Temperance  movement  —  has  been, 
for  sixty  years,  gathering  its  facts  and  marshaling  its  argu 
ments,  rallying  parties,  besieging  legislatures,  and  putting  great  15 
states  on  the  witness  stand  as  evidence  of  the  soundness  of  its 
methods,  scholars  have  given  it  nothing  but  a  sneer.  But  if 
universal  suffrage  ever  fails  here  for  a  time,  —  permanently  it 
cannot  fail,  —  it  will  not  be  incapable  civil  service,  nor  an 
ambitious  soldier,  nor  Southern  vandals,  nor  venal  legislatures,  20 
nor  the  greed  of  wealth,  nor  boy  statesmen  rotten  before  they 
are  ripe,  that  will  put  universal  suffrage  into  eclipse ;  it  will  be 
rum  intrenched  in  great  cities  and  commanding  every  vantage 
ground. 

41.  Social  science   affirms   that  woman's   place   in  society  25 
marks  the  level  of  civilization.    From  its  twilight  in  Greece, 
through  the  Italian  worship  of  the  Virgin,  the  dreams  of  chiv 
alry,  the  justice  of  the  civil  law,  and  the  equality  of  French 
society,  we  trace  her  gradual  recognition ;  while  our  common 
law,  as  Lord  Brougham  confessed,  was,  with  relation  to  women,  30 
the  opprobrium  of  the  age  and  of  Christianity.    For  forty  years 
plain  men  and  women,  working  noiselessly,  have  washed  away 
that  opprobrium ;  the  statute  books  of  thirty  states  have  been 
remodeled,  and  woman  stands  to-day  'almost  face  to  face  with 


180  THE   SCHOLAR   IN  A  REPUBLIC 

her  last  claim, —  the  ballot.  It  has  been  a  weary  and  thank 
less,  though  successful,  struggle.  But  if  there  be  any  refuge 
from  that  ghastly  curse,  —  the  vice  of  great  cities,  before  which 
social  science  stands  palsied  and  dumb,  —  it  is  in  this  more 

5  equal  recognition  of  woman.  If,  in  this  critical  battle  for  uni 
versal  suffrage,  —  our  fathers'  noblest  legacy  to  us,  and  the 
greatest  trust  God  leaves  in  our  hands,  —  there  be  any  weapon, 

1  which  once  taken  from  the  armory  will  make  victory  certain, 
it  will  be,  as  it  has  been  in  art,  literature,  and  society,  sum- 
10  moning  woman  into  the  political  arena. 

42.  But  at  any  rate,  up  to  this  point,  putting  suffrage  aside, 
there  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion ;   everything  born  of 
Christianity,  or  allied  to  Grecian  culture  or  Saxon  law,  must 
rejoice  in   the  gain.    The  literary  class,  until  within   half  a 

15  dozen  years,  has  taken  note  of  this  great  uprising  only  to 
fling  every  obstacle  in  its  way.  The  first  glimpse  we  get  of 
Saxon  blood  in  history  is  that  line  of  Tacitus  in  his  Germany 
which  reads,  "  In  all  grave  matters  they  consult  their  women." 
Years  hence,  when  robust  Saxon  sense  has  flung  away  Jewish 

20  superstition  and  Eastern  prejudice,  and  put  under  its  foot  fas 
tidious  scholarship  and  squeamish  fashion,  some  second  Tacitus, 
from  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  will  answer  to  him  of  the 
Seven  Hills,  "  In  all  grave  questions  we  consult  our  women." 

43.  I  used  to  think  that  then  we  could  say  to  letters  as 
25  Henry  of  Navarre  wrote  to  the  Sir  Philip  Sidney  of  his  realm, 

Crillon,  "the  bravest  of  the  brave,"  "We  have  conquered  at 
Arques,  et  tu  rfy  etais  pas,  Crillon"  —  "  You  were  not  there, 
my  Crillon."  But  a  second  thought  reminds  me  that  what 
claims  to  be  literature  has  been  always  present  in  that  battle- 
30  field,  and  always  in  the  ranks  of  the  foe. 

44.  Ireland  is  another  touchstone  which  reveals  to  us  how 
absurdly  we  masquerade  in  democratic  trappings  while  we  have 
gone  to  seed  in  Tory  distrust  of  the  people ;  false  to  every 
duty,  which,  as  eldest  born  of  democratic  institutions,  we  OWQ 


PHILLIPS  l8l 

to  the  oppressed,  and  careless  of  the  lesson  every  such  move 
ment  may  be  made  in  keeping  public  thought  clear,  keen,  and 
fresh  as  to  principles  which  are  the  essence  of  our  civilization, 
the  groundwork  of  all  education  in  republics. 

45.  Sydney  Smith  said,  "The  moment  Ireland  is  mentioned    5 
the  English  seem  to  bid  adieu  to  common  sense,  and  to  act 
with  the  barbarity  of  tyrants  and  the  fatuity  of  idiots.  .  .  . 
As  long  as  the  patient  will  suffer,  the  cruel  will  kick.  ...    If 
the  Irish   go  on  withholding  and   forbearing,  and   hesitating 
whether  this  is  the  time  for  discussion  or  that  is  the  time,  they  10 
will  be  laughed  at  another  century  as  fools,  and  kicked  for 
another   century   as   slaves."    Byron   called    England's   union 
with  Ireland  "the  union  of  the  shark  with  his  prey."    Ben- 
tham's  conclusion,  from   a  survey  of  five  hundred   years  of 
European  history,  was,  "  Only  by  making  the  ruling  few  uneasy  15 
can  the  oppressed  many  obtain  a  particle  of  relief."    Edmund 
Burke  —  Burke,  the  noblest  figure  in  the  Parliamentary  history 

of  the  last  hundred  years,  greater  than  Cicero  in  the  Senate 
and  almost  Plato  in  the  Academy  —  Burke  affirmed,  a  century 
ago,  "  Ireland  has  learned  at  last  that  justice  is  to  be  had  from  20 
England  only  when  demanded  at  the  sword's  point."  And  a 
century  later,  only  last  year,  Gladstone  himself  proclaimed  in 
a  public  address  in  Scotland,  "  England  never  concedes  any 
thing  to  Ireland  except  when  moved  to  do  so  by  fear." 

46.  When  we  remember  these  admissions,  we  ought  to  clap  25 
our  hands  at  every  fresh  Irish  "outrage,"  as  a  parrot  press 
styles  it,  aware  that  it  is  only  a  far-off  echo  of  the  musket  shots 
that  rattled  against  the  Old  State  House  on  the  5th  of  March, 
1770,  and  of  the  warwhoop  that  made  the  tiny  spire  of  the 
Old  South  tremble  when  Boston  rioters  emptied  the  three  India  30 
teaships  into  the  sea,  —  welcome  evidence  of  living  force  and 
rare  intelligence   in'  the  victim,  and  a  sign   that  the  day  of 
deliverance  draws  each   hour  nearer.     Cease  ringing  endless 
changes   of   eulogy   on   the   men   who   made   North's   Boston 


182  THE   SCHOLAR    IN  A  REPUBLIC 

port  bill  a  failure,  while  every  leading  journal  sends  daily  over 
the  water  wishes  for  the  success  of  Gladstone's  copy  of  the  bill 
for  Ireland.  If  all  rightful  government  rests  on  consent,  —  if, 
as  the  French  say,  you  "can  do  almost  anything  with  a  bayonet 

5  except  sit  on  it,"  — be  at  least  consistent,  and  denounce  the 
man  who  covers  Ireland  with  regiments  to  hold  up  a  despotism 
which,  within  twenty  months,  he  has  confessed  rests  wholly 
upon  fear. 

47.  Then  note  the  scorn  and  disgust  with  which  we  gather 

10  up  our  garments  about  us  and  disown  the  Samuel  Adams  and 
William  Prescott,  the  George  Washington  and  John  Brown,  of 
St.  Petersburg,  the  spiritual  descendants,  the  living  representa 
tives  of  those  who  make  our  history  worth  anything  in  the 
world's  annals,  —  the  Nihilists. 

15  48.  Nihilism  is  the  righteous  and  honorable  resistance  of 
a  people  crushed  under  an  iron  rule.  Nihilism  is  evidence  of 
life.  When  "  order  reigns  in  Warsaw,"  it  is  spiritual  death. 
Nihilism  is  the  last  weapon  of  victims  choked  and  manacled 
beyond  all  other  resistance.  It  is  crushed  humanity's  only 

20  means  of  making  the  oppressor  tremble.  God  means  that  un 
just  power  shall  be  insecure ;  and  every  move  of  the  giant, 
prostrate  in  chains,  whether  it  be  to  lift  a  single  dagger,  or  stir 
a  city's  revolt,  is  a  lesson  in  justice.  One  might  well  tremble 
for  the  future  of  the  race  if  such  a  despotism  could  exist  with- 

25  out  provoking  the  bloodiest  resistance.  I  honor  Nihilism,  since 
it  redeems  human  nature  from  the  suspicion  of  being  utterly 
vile,  made  up  only  of  heartless  oppressors  and  contented  slaves. 
Every  line  in  our  history,  every  interest  of  civilization,  bids  us 
rejoice  when  the  tyrant  grows  pale  and  the  slave  rebellious. 

30  We  cannot  but  pity  the  suffering  of  any  human  being,  however 
richly  deserved;  but  such  pity  must  not  confuse  our  moral 
sense.  Humanity  gains.  Chatham  rejoiced  when  our  fathers 
rebelled.  For  every  single  reason  they  alleged,  Russia  counts 
a  hundred,  each  one  ten  times  bitterer  than  any  Hancock  or 


PHILLIPS 


183 


Adams  could  give.  Samuel  Johnson's  standing  toast  in  Oxford 
port  was,  "Success  to  the  first  insurrection  of  slaves  in  Jamaica," 
—  a  sentiment  Southey  echoed.  "  Eschew  cant,"  said  that  old 
moralist.  But  of  all  the  cants  that  are  canted  in  this  cant 
ing  world,  though  the  cant  of  piety  may  be  the  worst,  the  5 
cant  of  Americans  bewailing  Russian  Nihilism  is  the  most 
disgusting. 

49.  I  know  what  reform  needs,  and  all  it  needs,  in  a  land 
where  discussion  is  free,  the  press  untrammeled,  and  where 
public  halls  protect  debate.    There,  as  Emerson  says,  "  What  10 
the  tender  and  poetic  youth  dreams  to-day,  and  conjures  up 
with  inarticulate  speech,  is  to-morrow  the  vociferated  result  of 
public  opinion,  and  the  day  after  is  the  charter  of  nations." 
Lieber  said,  in  1870,  "  Bismarck  proclaims  to-day  in  the  Diet  the 
very  principles  for  which  we  were  hunted  and  exiled  fifty  years  15 
ago."    Submit  to  risk  your  daily  bread,  expect  social  ostracism, 
count  on  a  mob  now  and  then,  "be  in  earnest,  don't  equivocate, 
don't  retreat  a  single  inch,"  and  you  will  finally  be  heard. 

For  Humanity  sweeps  onward,  where  to-day  the  martyr  stands 
On  the  morrow  crouches  Judas,  with  the  silver  in  his  hands ;  20 

Far  in  front  the  cross  stands  ready,  and  the  crackling  fagots  burn, 
While  the  hooting  mob  of  yesterday  in  silent  awe  return 
To  glean  up  the  scattered  ashes  into  History's  golden  urn. 

In  such  a  land  he  is  doubly  and  trebly  guilty  who,  except 
in  some  most   extreme  case,   disturbs  the  sober  rule  of  law  25 
and  order. 

50.  But  such  is  not  Russia.    In  Russia  there  is  no  press,  no 
debate,  no  explanation  of  what  government  does,  no  remon 
strance  allowed,  no  agitation  of  public  issues.    Dead  silence, 
like  that  which  reigns  at  the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc,  freezes  30 
the  whole  empire,  long  ago  described  as  "  a  despotism  tempered 
by  assassination."  Meanwhile,  such  despotism  has  unsettled  the 
brains  of  the  ruling  family,  as  unbridled  power  doubtless  made 
some  of  the  twelve  Caesars  insane,  —  a  madman  sporting  with 


1 84  '  THE   SCHOLAR    IN  A  REPUBLIC 

the  lives  and  comfort  of  a  hundred  millions  of  men.  The  young 
girl  whispers  in  her  mother's  ear,  under  a  ceiled  roof,  her  pity 
for  a  brother  knouted  and  dragged  half  dead  into  exile  for  his 
opinions.  The  next  week  she  is  stripped  naked  and  flogged 

5  to  death  in  the  public  square.  No  inquiry,  no  explanation, 
no  trial,  no  protest;  one  dead  uniform  silence,  —  the  law  of 
the  tyrant.  Where  is  there  ground  for  any  hope  of  peaceful 
change?  Where  the  fulcrum  upon  which  you  can  plant  any 
possible  lever? 

10  51.  Macchiavelli's  sorry  picture  of  poor  human  nature  would 
be  fulsome  flattery  if  men  could  keep  still  under  such  oppres 
sion.  No,  no  !  in  such  a  land  dynamite  and  the  dagger  are  the 
necessary  and  proper  substitutes  for  Faneuil  Hall  and  the  Daily 
Advertiser.  Anything  that  will  make  the  madman  quake  in  his 

15  bedchamber,  and  rouse  his  victims  into  reckless  and  desperate 
resistance.  This  is  the  only  view  an  American,  the  child  of 
1620  and  1776,  can  take  of  Nihilism.  Any  other  unsettles  and 
perplexes  the  ethics  of  our  civilization. 

52.  Born  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill,  in  a  commonwealth 
20  which   adopts   the   motto   of  Algernon   Sidney,    sub  libertate 

qmetem  ("  accept  no  peace  without  liberty  ") ;  son  of  Harvard, 
whose  first  pledge  was  "  Truth  " ;  citizen  of  a  republic  based 
on  the  claim  that  no  government  is  rightful  unless  resting  on 
the  consent  of  the  people,  and  which  assumes  to  lead  in  assert- 
25  ing  the  rights  of  humanity,  —  I  at  least  can  say  nothing  else 
and  nothing  less ;  no,  not  if  every  tile  on  Cambridge  roofs 
were  a  devil  hooting  my  words  ! 

53.  I  shall  bow  to  any  rebuke  from  those  who  hold  Chris 
tianity  to  command  entire  non-resistance.    But  criticism  from 

30  any  other  quarter  is  only  that  nauseous  hypocrisy  which,  stung 
by  threepenny  tea  tax,  piles  Bunker  Hill  with  granite  and 
statues,  prating  all  the  time  of  patriotism  and  broadswords, 
while,  like  another  Pecksniff,  it  recommends  a  century  of  dumb 
submission  and  entire  non-resistance  to  the  Russians,  who  for 


PHILLIPS  185 

a  hundred  years  have  seen  their  sons  by  thousands  dragged  to 
death  or  exile,  no  one  knows  which,  in  this  worse  than  Venetian 
mystery  of  police,  and  their  maidens  flogged  to  death  in  the 
market  place,  and  who  share  the  same  fate  if  they  presume  to 
ask  the  reason  why.  5 

54.  "It  is  unfortunate,"  says  Jefferson,  "that  the  efforts 
of  mankind  to  secure  the  freedom  of  which  they  have  been 
deprived,  should  be  accompanied  with  violence  and  even  with 
crime.    But  while  we  weep  over  the  means,  we  must  pray  for 
the  end."    Pray  fearlessly  for  such  ends;   there  is  no  risk!  10 
"  Men  are  all  tories  by  nature,"  says  Arnold,  "  when  tolerably 
well  off ;   only  monstrous  injustice  and  atrocious  cruelty  can 
rouse  them."    Some  talk  of  the  rashness  of  the  uneducated 
classes.    Alas  !   ignorance  is  far  oftener  obstinate  than  rash. 
Against  one  French  revolution  —  that  scarecrow  of  the  ages —  15 
weigh  Asia,  "  carved  in  stone,"  and  a  thousand  years  of  Europe, 
with  her  half-dozen  nations  meted  out  and  trodden  down  to 
be  the  dull  and  contented  footstools  of  priests  and  kings.    The 
customs  of  a  thousand  years  ago  are  the  sheet  anchor  of  the  - 
passing  generation,  so  deeply  buried,  so  fixed,  that  the  most  20 
violent  efforts  of  the  maddest  fanatic  can  drag  it  but  a  hand's- 
breadth. 

55.  Before  the  war,  Americans  were  like  the  crowd  in  that 
terrible  hall  of  Eblis  which  Beckford  painted  for  us,  —  each 
man  with  his  hand  pressed  on  the  incurable  sore  in  his  bosom,  25 
and  pledged  not  to  speak  of  it ;  compared  with  other  lands, 
we  were  intellectually  and  morally  a  nation  of  cowards. 

56.  When  I  first  entered  the  Roman  States,  a  customhouse 
official  seized  all  my  French  books.    In  vain  I  held  up  to  him 

a  treatise  by  F£nelon,  and  explained  that  it  was  by  a  Catholic  30 
archbishop  of  Cambray.    Gruffly  he  answered,  "  It  makes  no 
difference ;  //  is  French."    As  I  surrendered  the  volume  to  his 
remorseless  grasp,  I  could  not  but  honor  the  nation  which  had 
made  its  revolutionary  purpose  so  definite  that  despotism  feared 


186  THE   SCHOLAR  IN  A  REPUBLIC 

its  very  language.  I  only  wished  that  injustice  and  despotism 
everywhere  might  one  day  have  as  good  cause  to  hate  and  to 
fear  everything  American. 

57.  At  last  that  disgraceful  seal  of  slave  complicity  is  broken. 
5  Let  us  inaugurate  a  new  departure,  recognize  that  we  are  afloat 

on  the  current  of  Niagara,  eternal  vigilance  the  condition  of 
our  safety,  that  we  are  irrevocably  pledged  to  the  world  not  to 
go  back  to  bolts  and  bars,  —  could  not  if  we  would,  and  would 
not  if  we  could.  Never  again  be  ours  the  fastidious  scholarship 

10  that  shrinks  from  rude  contact  with  the  masses.  Very  pleasant 
it  is  to  sit  high  up  in  the  world's  theater  and  criticise  the 
ungraceful  struggles  of  the  gladiators,  shrug  one's  shoulders  at 
the  actors'  harsh  cries,  and  let  every  one  know  that  but  for 
"  this  villainous  saltpeter  you  would  yourself  have  been  a 

15  soldier."  But  Bacon  says,  "  In  the  theater  of  man's  life,  God 
and  his  angels  only  should  be  lookers-on."  "  Sin  is  not  taken 
out  of  man  as  Eve  was  out  of  Adam,  by  putting  him  to  sleep." 
"  Very  beautiful,"  said  Richter,  "  is  the  eagle  when  he  floats 
with  outstretched  wings  aloft  in  the  clear  blue ;  but  sublime 

20  when  he  plunges  down  through  the  tempest  to  his  eyrie  on  the 
cliff,  where  his  unfledged  young  ones  dwell  and  are  starving." 
Accept  proudly  the  analysis  of  Fisher  Ames :  "  A  monarchy  is 
a  man-of-war,  stanch,  iron-ribbed,  and  resistless  when  under 
full  sail ;  yet  a  single  hidden  rock  sends  her  to  the  bottom. 

25  Our  republic  is  a  raft  hard  to  steer,  and  your  feet  always  wet ; 
but  nothing  can  sink  her."  If  the  Alps,  piled  in  cold  and 
silence,  be  the  emblem  of  despotism,  we  joyfully  take  the 
ever-restless  ocean  for  ours,  —  only  pure  because  never  still. 

58.  Journalism  must  have  more  self-respect.    Now  it  praises 
30  good  and  bad  men  so  indiscriminately  that  a  good  word  from 

nine  tenths  of  our  journals  is  worthless.  In  burying  our  Aaron 
Burrs,  both  political  parties  —  in  order  to  get  the  credit  of 
magnanimity  —  exhaust  the  vocabulary  of  eulogy  so  thoroughly 
that  there  is  nothing  left  with  which  to  distinguish  our  John 


PHILLIPS  187 

Jays.  The  love  of  a  good  name  in  life  and  a  fair  reputation  to 
survive  us  —  that  strong  bond  to  well-doing  —  is  lost  where 
every  career,  however  stained,  is  covered  with  the  same  ful 
some  flattery,  and  where  what  men  say  in  the  streets  is  the 
exact  opposite  of  what  they  say  to  each  other.  De  mortuis  nil  5 
nisibonum  most  men  translate,  "Speak  only  good  of  the  dead." 
I  prefer  to  construe  it,  "  Of  the  dead  say  nothing  unless  you 
can  tell  something  good."  And  if  the  sin  and  the  recreancy 
have  been  marked  and  far-reaching  in  their  evil,  even  the 
charity  of  silence  is  not  permissible.  10 

59.  To  be  as  good  as  our  fathers  we  must  be  better.   They 
silenced  their  fears  and  subdued  their  prejudices,  inaugurating 
free  speech  and  equality  with  no  precedent  on  the  file.    Europe 
shouted  "  Madmen  !  "  and  gave  us  forty  years  for  the  ship 
wreck.    With  serene  faith  they  persevered.    Let  us  rise  to  their  15 
level.    Crush  appetite,  and  prohibit  temptation  if  it  rots  great 
cities.    Intrench  labor  in  sufficient  bulwarks  against  that  wealth 
which,  without  the  tenfold  strength  of  modern  incorporation, 
wrecked  the  Grecian  and  Roman  States  ;  and  with  a  sterner 
effort  still,  summon  women  into  civil  life  as  reenforcement  to  20 
our  laboring  ranks  in  the  effort  to  make  our  civilization  a 
success. 

60.  Sit  not,  like  the  figure  on  our  silver  coin,  looking  ever 
backward. 

New  occasions  teach  new  duties  ;  time  makes  ancient  good  un 
couth  ;  25 

They  must  upward  still,  and  onward,  who  would  keep  abreast  of 
Truth. 

Lo  !  before  us  gleam  her  camp  fires !  we  ourselves  must  Pil 
grims  be, 

Launch  our  Mayflower,  and  steer  boldly  through  the  desperate 
winter  sea, 

Nor  attempt  the  Future's  portal  with  the  Past's  blood-rusted  key. 


THE   PUBLIC   DUTY  OF  EDU 
CATED  MEN1 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS 

AN   ORATION   DELIVERED   AT  THE    COMMENCEMENT  OF   UNION 
COLLEGE,  JUNE  27,  1877. 

INTRODUCTION 

George  William  Curtis,  author,  orator,  and  publicist,  was  born 
in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  February  24,  1824.  In  1839  he 
went  to  New  York  and  became  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house.  In 
1842  he  and  his  elder  brother  joined  the  Brook  Farm  Community, 
at  West  Roxbury,  Massachusetts.  After  remaining  there  a  year 
and  a  half  he  went  to  Concord  and  spent  another  eighteen  months 
with  a  farmer,  dividing  his  time  between  farming  and  the  society 
of  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  and  other  noted  men.  In  place  of  a  col 
lege  course  Curtis  spent  the  next  four  years  in  travel  abroad.  He 
lived  first  in  Italy  and  Germany,  and  afterwards  traveled  in  Egypt 
and  Syria.  Upon  his  return,  he  published  the  Howadji  books, 
which  gave  him  some  reputation  as  a  writer.  Later  there  came 
from  his  pen  The  Potiphar  Papers,  Prue  and  I,  and  Trumps.  In 
1850  he  joined  the  editorial  staff  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  and 
in  1852  became  a  partner  in  the  firm  that  established  Putnam's 
Monthly.  When  this  firm  failed,  Curtis  assumed  a  large  indebted 
ness  for  which  he  was  not  legally  bound,  applied  his  private  fortune 
toward  meeting  the  firm's  obligations,  and  for  sixteen  years  devoted 
to  that  purpose  the  money  earned  by  lecturing.  In  1854  he  began 
his  "  Easy  Chair"  papers  in  Harper's  Magazine,  and  later  became 
the  leading  editorial  writer  for  Harper's  'weekly. 

1  Copyright,  1893,  b7  Harper  &  Brothers. 
189 


190     THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED    MEN 

In  1856  Curtis  delivered  an  oration  before  the  literary  societies 
of  Wesleyan  University,  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  on  "  The 
Duty  of  the  American  Scholar  to  Politics  and  the  Times."  This 
marks  the  beginning  of  his  connection  with  public  affairs.  The 
same  year  he  spoke  in  the  presidential  campaign  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  candidates.  In  1860,  1864,  and  1876,  he  was  a  dele 
gate  to  the  Republican  national  conventions.  In  1864  he  was  an 
unsuccessful  candidate  for  Congress.  In  1869  he  declined  the 
Republican  nomination  for  secretary  of  state  of  New  York,  and 
in  1876  he  also  declined  the  position  of  minister  to  England.  In 
1871  he  became  identified  with  the  civil  service  as  a  member  of 
the  commission  appointed  to  draw  up  rules  for  its  regulation.  He 
later  became  president  of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform 
League,  and  for  twenty  years  he  wrote  and  spoke  in  its  interests. 
The  cause  of  civil  service  reform  owes  more  to  Curtis  than  to  any 
other  one  man.  One  large  volume  of  his  orations  and  addresses  is 
devoted  entirely  to  this  subject.  In  politics  he  was  exceptionally 
independent  and  fearless.  He  was  among  the  first,  as  he  was  the 
leader,  of  those  who  broke  away  from  party  affiliations  in  1884 
and  supported  Cleveland,  as  against  Elaine,  for  the  presidency, 
and  were  satirically  denominated  "  Mugwumps."  As  a  leader  of 
public  opinion  Curtis  exerted  an  influence  which  is  probably  un 
paralleled  in  our  history.  He  died  August  31,  1892. 

In  an  article  entitled  "  George  William  Curtis :  Friend  of  the 
Republic,"  McClure's  Magazine,  October,  1904,  Honorable  Carl 
Schurz  says : 

"  However  effective  his  regular  journalistic  communion  with 
the  public  was,  the  most  valuable  and  impressive  of  his  teachings 
were  contained  in  that  grand  series  of  orations  and  occasional 
addresses  which  not  only  placed  him  in  the  first  rank  of  the  great 
orators  of  his  time,  but  also  constitute  his  finest  contributions  to 
American  literature  —  addresses  and  orations  delivered  at  college 
commencements,  alumni  reunions,  the  unveiling  of  monuments, 
memorial  services  in  honor  of  statesmen,  or  soldiers,  or  men  of 
letters,  or  public  meetings  held  to  shape,  or  express,  or  stimulate 
popular  sentiment  on  some  matter  of  great  public  concern.  Noth 
ing  could  surpass  the  splendid  architecture  of  their  argument  and 
the  wealth  and  chaste  beauty  of  their  ornamentation.  In  what 
gorgeous  colors  he  would  paint  the  glories  of  his  country !  How 


CURTIS  .  191 

he  would  revel  in  the  memories  of  the  heroic  birth  of  the  republic 
and  in  extolling  the  grand  and  eternal  significance  of  the  principles 
which  constituted  its  reason  of  being  and  its  promise  to  all  man 
kind  !  With  what  lofty  sternness  he  would  castigate  those  whose 
mean  spirit  failed  to  appreciate  those  principles  !  How  vividly 
he  would  make  to  gleam  and  radiate  the  virtues  and  high  aims 
and  achievements  of  the  great  men  who  were  the  subjects  of  his 
eulogy  !  How  magnificently  his  noble  manhood  and  his  American 
citizen's  pride  shone  forth  when  he  defined  to  the  youth  of  his 
generation  the  nature  of  true  patriotism,  —  a  patriotism  that  em 
braced  all  the  human  kind  and  had  its  source  in  the  purest  moral 
sense  and  in  the  profoundest  and  most  courageous  convictions  of 
right  and  duty  in  the  service  of  the  highest  ideals  !  " 

Though  Curtis  was  primarily  a  man  of  letters,  he  is,  as  Mr.  Schurz 
says,  best  known  now  as  a  lecturer  and  an  orator.  Among  a  galaxy 
of  contemporary  lecturers  such  as  Emerson,  Phillips,  and  Beecher, 
Curtis  was  in  constant  demand  for  the  lyceum  platform,  and  was 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  polished  speakers  of  his  times. 
Before  and  during  the  war  he  spoke  chiefly  on  the  question  of 
slavery  ;  later,  on  civil  service  reform  and  occasional  topics.  From 
the  very  first  his  addresses  were  characterized  by  those  rhetorical 
excellencies  which  make  them,  as  he  himself  said  of  Burke's 
speeches,  "  not  only  historical  events,  but  splendid  possessions  of 
literature."  If  he  has  not  the  energy  and  pugnacity  of  Phillips, 
or  the  prevailing  emotionalism  of  Grady,  he  has  a  poise  and  finish 
that  excel  the  one  and  equal  the  other. 

While  Curtis  was  a  master  in  extemporaneous  oratory,  his  set 
speeches  were  prepared  with  great  care.  Suggestions  as  to  his 
methods  may  be  gleaned  from  the  following  extracts  of  a  letter 
written  by  him  and  published  in  Smith's  Reading  and  Speaking 
(p.  125): 

"  The  young  orator  must  not  be  afraid  to  take  the  same  pains 
with  the  form  of  his  oration,  which  is  largely  the  oration,  that  the 
painter  takes  with  his  color,  his  drawing,  his  aerial  perspective, 
and  his  chiaroscuro  ;  and  the  poet  with  his  rhythm  and  his  words. 
Care  and  taste,  the  felicitous  choice  of  phrase  and  happy  cadence, 
do  not  result  in  disagreeable  artificiality  in  an  oration  more  than 
in  a  poem  or  picture.  .  .  .  The  greatest  orations  have  probably 
been  most  thoughtfully  prepared.  But  this  does  not  prevent  a 
quick  and  fortunate  use  of  unforeseen  incidents  and  the  remarks 


;  '  ••  '    ; 


192      THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED    MEN 

of  others.  .  .  .  [The  great  orators]  did  not  trust  to  the  '  spur  of 
the  moment,'  but  relied  upon  thought  and  knowledge,  and  careful 
cultivation  of  the  forms  of  expression." 

In  delivery,  Curtis's  manner  was  well  adapted  to  the  intelligent 
audiences  he  usually  addressed.  With  a  fine  form  and  pleasing 
bearing,  a  deep,  musical,  and  well-modulated  voice,  using  few  but 
expressive  gestures,  he  "  seemed  absorbed  by  the  expression  of  his 
thought,  unheeding  the  eyes,  seeking  the  judgment  and  the  heart, 
of  his  auditors." 

The  following  oration  on  »  The  Public  Duty  of  Educated  Men" 
is  not  notably  better  than  many  of  the  other  orations  and  addresses 
given  by  Curtis  during  the  forty  years  of  his  active  life,  but  it  does 
represent,  in  perhaps  the  most  comprehensive  foim,  the  sum  of  his 
political  philosophy,  —  that  educated  and  consecrated  intelligence 
is  the  hope  of  this  Republic,  —  and  pleads  the  responsibilities  and 
duties  of  that  class  of  which  he  himself  was  a  most  distinguished 
type,  —  the  Scholar  in  Politics. 

i.  It  is  with  diffidence  that  I  rise  to  add  any  words  of  mine 
to  the  music  of  these  younger  voices.  This  day,  Gentlemen  of 
the  Graduating  Class,  is  especially  yours.  It  is  a  day  of  high 
hope  and  expectation  ;  and  the  councils  that  fall  from  older 
5  lips  should  be  carefully  weighed,  lest  they  chill  the  ardor  of  a 
generous  enthusiasm,  or  stay  the  all-conquering  faith  of  youth 
that  moves  the  world.  To  those  who,  constantly  and  actively 
engaged  in  a  thousand  pursuits,  are  still  persuaded  that  edu 
cated  intelligence  molds  states  and  leads  mankind,  no  day  in 

10  the  year  is  more  significant,  more  inspiring,  than  this  of  the 
College  Commencement.  It  matters  not  at  what  college  it  may 
be  celebrated.  It  is  the  same  at  all.  We  stand  here  indeed 
beneath  these  college  walls,  beautiful  for  situation,  girt  at  this 
moment  with  the  perfumed  splendor  of  midsummer,  and  full 

15  of  tender  memories  and  joyous  associations  to  those  who  hear 
me.  But  on  this  day,  and  on  other  days,  at  a  hundred  other 
colleges,  this  summer  sun  beholds  the  same  spectacle  of  eager 
and  earnest  throngs.  The  faith  that  we  hold,  they  also  cherish. 


CURTIS  193 

It  is  the  same  God  that  is  worshiped  at  the  different  altars. 
It  is  the  same  benediction  that  descends  upon  every  reverent 
head  and  believing  heart.  In  this  annual  celebration  of  faith 
in  the  power  and  the  responsibility  of  educated  men,  all  the 
colleges  in  the  country,  in  whatever  state,  of  whatever  age,  of  5 
whatever  religious  sympathy  or  direction,  form  but  one  great 
Union  University. 

2.  But  the  interest  of  the  day  is  not  that  of  mere  study,  of 
sound  scholarship  as  an  end,  of  good  books  for  their  own  sake, 
but  of  education  as  a  power  in  human  affairs ;  of  educated  10 
men  as  an  influence  in  the  commonwealth.    "  Tell  me,"  said 
an  American  scholar  of  Goethe,  the  many-sided,  "  what  did  he 
ever  do  for  the  cause  of  man?"    The  scholar,  the  poet,  the 
philosopher,  are  men  among  other  men.    From  these  unavoid 
able  social  relations  spring  opportunities  and  duties.    How  do  15 
they  use   them?    How  do  they  discharge  them?    Does  the 
scholar  show  in  his  daily  walk  that  he  has  studied  the  wisdom 

of  ages  in  vain  ?    Does  the  poet  sing  of  angelic  purity  and  lead 
an  unclean  life  ?    Does  the  philosopher  peer  into  other  worlds, 
and  fail  to  help  this  world  upon  its  way?    Four  years  before  20 
our  Civil  War,  the  same  scholar  —  it  was  Theodore  Parker  — 
said  sadly :   "If  our  educated  men  had  done  their  duty,  we 
should  not  now  be  in  the  ghastly  condition  we  bewail."    The 
theme  of  to-day  seems  to  me  to  be  prescribed  by  the  occasion. 
It  is  the  festival  of  the  departure  of  a  body  of  educated  young  25 
men  into  the  world.    This  company  of  picked  recruits  marches 
out  with  beating  drums  and  flying  colors  to  join  the  army.    We 
who  feel  that  our  fate  is  gracious  which  allowed  a  liberal  train 
ing,  are  here  to  welcome  and  to  advise.    On  your  behalf,  Mr. 
President  and  Gentlemen,  with  your  authority,  and  with  all  my  30 
heart,  I  shall  say  a  word  to  them  and  to  you  of  the  public  duty 
of  educated  men  in  America. 

3.  I   shall  not  assume,  Gentlemen  Graduates,  for  I  know 
that  it  is  not  so,  that  what  Dr.  Johnson  says  of  the  teachers  of 


194      THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED    MEN 
7 

Rasselas  and  the  princes  of  Abyssinia  can  be  truly  said  of  you 
in  your  happy  valley —  "The  sages  who  instructed  them  told 
them  of  nothing  but  the  miseries  of  public  life,  and  described 
all  beyond  the  mountains  as  regions  of  calamity  where  discord 
5  was  always  raging,  and  where  man  preyed  upon  man."  The 
sages  who  have  instructed  you  are  American  citizens.  They 
know  that  patriotism  has  its  glorious  opportunities  and  its 
sacred  duties.  They  have  not  shunned  the  one,  and  they  have 
well  performed  the  other.  In  the  sharpest  stress  of  our  awful 
10  conflict,  a  clear  voice  of  patriotic  warning  was  heard  from  these 
peaceful  academic  shades ;  the  voice  of  the  venerated  teacher 
whom  this  University  still  freshly  deplores,  drawing,  from  the 
wisdom  of  experience  stored  in  his  ample  learning,  a  lesson  of 
startling  cogency  and  power  from  the  history  of  Greece  for  the 
15  welfare  of  America. 

4.  This  was  the  discharge  of  a  public  duty  by  an  educated 
man.  It  illustrated  an  indispensable  condition  of  a  progressive 
republic  :  the  active,  practical  interest  in  politics  of  the  most 
intelligent  citizens.  Civil  and  religious  liberty  in  this  country 
20  can  be  preserved  only  through  the  agency  of  our  political  insti 
tutions.  But  those  institutions  alone  will  not  suffice.  It  is  not 
the  ship  so  much  as  the  skillful  sailing  that  assures  the  prosper 
ous  voyage.  American  institutions  presuppose  not  only  general 
honesty  and  intelligence  in  the  people,  but  their  constant  and 
25  direct  application  to  public  affairs.  Our  system  rests  upon  all 
the  people,  not  upon  a  part  of  them,  and  the  citizen  who 
evades  his  share  of  the  burden  betrays  his  fellows.  Our  safety 
lies  not  in  our  institutions  but  in  ourselves.  It  was  under  the 
forms  of  the  republic  that  Julius  Caesar  made  himself  emperor 
30  of  Rome.  It  was  by  professing  reverence  for  the  national  tradi 
tions  that  James  II  was  destroying  religious  liberty  in  England. 
To  labor,  said  the  old  monks,  is  to  pray.  What  we  earnestly 
desire  we  earnestly  toil  for.  That  she  may  be  prized  more 
truly,  heaven-eyed  Justice  flies  from  us,  like  the  Tartar  maid 


•   £&     {V>e-^t 
I 


CURTIS  IQ5 

(/ 

from  her  lovers,  and  she  yields  her  embrace  at  last  only  to  the 
swiftest  and  most  daring  of  her  pursuers. 

5.  By  the  words  "public  duty"  I  do  not  necessarily  mean 
official  duty,  although  it  may  include  that.    I  mean  simply  that 
constant  and  active  practical  participation  in  the  details  of  poli-    5 
tics  without  which,  upon  the  part  of  the  most  intelligent  citizens, 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs  falls  under  the  control  of  selfish 
and  ignorant,  or  crafty  and  venal  men.    I  mean  that  personal    ^ 
attention  which,  as  it  must  be  incessant,  is  often  wearisome 
and  even  repulsive,  to  the  details  of  politics,  attendance  at  10 
meetings,  service   upon   committees,    care   and    trouble    and 
expense  of  many  kinds,  patient  endurance  of  rebuffs,  chagrins, 
ridicules,  disappointments,  defeats  —  in  a  word,  all  those  duties 
and    services  which,  when   selfishly    and   meanly   performed, 
stigmatize  a  man  as  a  mere  politician;  but   whose  constant,  15 
honorable,  intelligent,  and  vigilant  performance  is  the  gradual 
building,  stone  by  stone,  and  layer  by  layer,  of  that  great 
temple  of  self-restrained  liberty  which  all  generous  souls  mean 
that  our  government  shall  be. 

6.  Public  duty  in  this  country  is  not  discharged,  as  is  so  20 
often  supposed,  by  voting.    A  man  may  vote  regularly,  and 
still  fail  essentially  of  his  political  duty,  as  the  Pharisee  who 
gave  tithes  of  all  that  he  possessed,  and  fasted  three  times  in 
the  week,  yet  lacked   the  very  heart  of  religion.    When  an 
American  citizen  is  content  with  voting  merely,  he  consents  25 
to  accept  what  is  often  a  doubtful  alternative.    His  first  duty 

is  to  help  shape  the  alternative.  This,  which  was  formerly  less 
necessary,  is  now  indispensable.  In  a  rural  community  such  as 
this  country  was  a  hundred  years  ago,  whoever  was  nominated 
for  office  was  known  to  his  neighbors,  and  the  consciousness  30 
of  that  knowledge  was  a  conservative  influence  in  determining 
nominations.  But  in  the  local  elections  of  the  great  cities  of 
to-day,  elections  that  control  taxation  and  expenditure,  the 
mass  of  the  voters  vote  in  absolute  ignorance  of  the  candidates. 


196      THE   PUBLIC  DUTY   OF  EDUCATED   MEN 

The  citizen  who  supposes  that  he  does  all  his  duty  when  he 
votes,  places  a  premium  upon  political  knavery.  Thieves  wel 
come  him  to  the  polls  and  offer  him  a  choice,  which  he  has 
done  nothing  to  prevent,  between  Jeremy  Diddler  and  Dick 
5  Turpin.  The  party  cries,  for  which  he  is  responsible,  are, 
11  Turpin  ana  Honesty  !  "  «  Diddler  and  Reform  !  "  And  within 
a  few  years,  as  a  result  of  this  indifference  to  the  details  of 
public  duty,  the  most  powerful  politician  in  the  Empire  State 
of  the  Union  was  Jonathan  Wild  the  Great,  the  captain  of  a 
10  band  of  plunderers.  I  know  it  is  said  that  the  knaves  have  taken 
the  honest  men  in  a  net,  and  have  contrived  machinery  which 
will  inevitably  grind  only  the  grist  of  rascals.  The  answer  is, 
that  when  honest  men  did  once  what  they  ought  to  do  always,' 
the  thieves  were  netted  and  their  machine  was  broken.  To  say 

15  that  in  this  country  the  rogues  must  rule,  is  to  defy  history 
and  to  despair  of  the  republic.  It  is  to  repeat  the  imbecile 
executive  cry  of  sixteen  years  ago,  «  Oh,  dear  !  the  states  have 
no  right  to  go  ";  and,  «  Oh,  dear  !  the  nation  has  no  right  to 
help  itself."  Let  the  Union,  stronger  than  ever  and  unstained 

20  with  national  wrong,  teach  us  the  power  of  patriotic  virtue  — 
and  Ludlow  Street  jail  console  those  who  suppose  that  American 
politics  must  necessarily  be  a  game  of  thieves  and  bullies. 

7-  If  ignorance  and   corruption  and   intrigue  control   the 
primary  meeting,  and  manage  the  convention,  and  dictate  the 

25  nomination,  the  fault  is  in  the  honest  and  intelligent  workshop 
and  office,  in  the  library  and  the  parlor,  in  the  church  and  the 
school.  When  they  are  as  constant  and  faithful  to  their  polit 
ical  rights  as  the  slums  and  the  grogshops,  the  pool  rooms  and 
the  kennels;  when  the  educated,  industrious,  temperate,  thrifty 

30  citizens  are  as  zealous  and  prompt  and  unfailing  in  political 

activity  as  the  ignorant  and  venal  and  mischievous,  or  when  it 

is  plain  that  they  cannot  be  roused  to  their  duty,  then,  but  not 

until  then  —  if  ignorance  and  corruption  always  carry  the  day 

-  there  can  be  no  honest  question  that  the  republic  has  failed. 


CURTIS  197 

But  let  us  not  be  deceived.  While  good  men  sit  at  home,  not 
knowing  that  there  is  anything  to  be  done,  nor  caring  to  know  ; 
cultivating  a  feeling  that  politics  are  tiresome  and  dirty,  and 
politicians  vulgar  bullies  and  bravoes  ;  half  persuaded  that  a 
republic  is  the  contemptible  rule  of  a  mob,  and  secretly  long-  5 
ing  for  a  splendid  and  vigorous  despotism,  —  then  remember 
it  is  not  a  government  mastered  by  ignorance,  it  is  a  govern 
ment  betrayed  by  intelligence  ;  it  is  not  the  victory  of  the  slums, 
it  is  the  surrender  of  the  schools ;  it  is  not  that  bad  men  are 
brave,  but  that  good  men  are  infidels  and  cowards.  10 

8.  But,  Gentlemen,  when  you  come  to  address  yourselves  to 
these  primary  public  duties,  your  first  surprise  and  dismay  will 
be  the  discovery  that,  in  a  country  where  education  is  declared 
to  be  the  hope  of  its  institutions,  the  higher  education  is  often 
practically  held  to  be  almost  a  disadvantage.    You  will  go  from  15 
these  halls  to  hear  a  very  common  sneer  at  college-bred  men ; 

to  encounter  a  jealousy  of  education  as  'making  men  visionary 
and  pedantic  and  impracticable  ;  to  confront  a  belief  that  there 
is  something  enfeebling  in  the  higher  education,  and  that  self- 
made  men,  as  they  are  called,  are  the  sure  stay  of  the  state.  20 
But  what  is  really  meant  by  a  self-made  man?  It  is  a  man  of 
native  sagacity  and  strong  character,  who  was  taught,  it  is 
proudly  said,  only  at  the  plow  or  the  anvil  or  the  bench.  He 
was  schooled  by  adversity,  and  was  polished  by  hard  attrition 
with  men.  He  is  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  printer's  boy,  or  25 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  rail-splitter.  They  never  went  to  college, 
but  nevertheless,  like  Agamemnon,  they  were  kings  of  men, 
and  the  world  blesses  their  memory. 

9.  So  it   does:    but   the    sophistry  here   is  plain  •  enough, 
although  it  is  not  always  detected.    Great  genius  and  force  of  30 
character  undoubtedly  make  their  own  career.    But  because 
Walter  Scott  was  dull  at  school,  is  a  parent  to  see  with  joy  that 
his  son  is  a  dunce?    Because  Lord  Chatham  was  of  a  tower 
ing  conceit,  must  we  infer  that  pompous  vanity  portends  a 


198     THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF  EDUCATED   MEN 

comprehensive  statesmanship  that  will  fill  the  world  with  the 
splendor  of  its  triumphs?  Because  Sir  Robert  Walpole  gambled 
and  swore  and  boozed  at  Houghton,  are  we  to  suppose  that 
gross  sensuality  and  coarse  contempt  of  human  nature  are  the 
5  essential  secrets  of  a  power  that  defended  liberty  against  Tory 
intrigue  and  priestly  politics?  Was  it  because  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  not  college-bred  that  he  drew  the  lightning  from 
heaven  and  tore  the  scepter  from  the  tyrant?  Was  it  because 
Abraham  Lincoln  had  little  schooling  that  his  great  heart  beat 

10  true  to  God  and  man,  lifting  him  to  free  a  race  and  die  for  his 
country?  Because  men  naturally  great  have  done  great  service 
in  the  world  without  advantages,  does  it  follow  that  lack  of 
advantage  is  the  secret  of  success?  Was  Pericles  a  less  saga 
cious  leader  of  the  state,  during  forty  years  of  Athenian  glory, 

15  because  he  was  thoroughly  accomplished  in  every  grace  of 
learning?  Or,  swiftly  passing  from  the  Athenian  agora  to  the 
Boston  town  meeting,  behold  Samuel  Adams,  tribune  of  New 
England  against  Old  England,  of  America  against  Europe,  of 
liberty  against  despotism.  Was  his  power  enfeebled,  his  fervor 

20  chilled,  his  patriotism  relaxed,  by  his  college  education?  No, 
no;  they  were  strengthened,  kindled,  confirmed.  Taking  his. 
Master's  degree  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years  ago,  thirty- 
three  years  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Samuel 
Adams,  then  twenty-one  years  old,  declared  in  a  Latin  dis- 

25  course  —  the  first  flashes  of  the  fire  that  blazed  afterward  in 
Faneuil  Hall  and  kindled  America  —  that  it  is  lawful  to  resist 
the  supreme  magistrate  if  the  commonwealth  cannot  otherwise 
be  preserved.  In  the  very  year  that  Jefferson  was  born,  the 
college  boy,  Samuel  Adams,  on  a  Commencement  day  like  this, 

30  on  an  academical  platform  like  this  on  which  we  stand,  struck 
the  keynote  of  American  independence,  which  still  stirs  the 
heart  of  man  with  its  music. 

10.  Or,  within  our  own  century,  look  at  the  great  modern 
statesmen  who  have  shaped  the  politics  of  the  world.    They 


CURTIS  199 

were  educated  men ;  were  they  therefore  visionary,  pedantic, 
impracticable?    Cavour,  whose  monument  is  United  Italy  — 
one  from  the  Alps  to  Tarentum,  from  the  lagoons  of  Venice  to 
the  Gulf  of  Salerno ;  Bismarck,  who  has  raised  the  German 
empire  from  a  name  to  a  fact ;  Gladstone,  to-day  the  incar-    5 
nate  heart  and  conscience  of  England,  —  they  are  the  perpetual 
refutation  of  the  sneer  that  higher  education  weakens  men  for 
practical  affairs.    Trained  themselves,  such  men  know  the  value 
of  training.    AH  countries,  all  ages,  all  men,  are  their  teachers. 
The  broader  their  education,  the  wider  the  horizon  of  their.  10 
thought  and  observation,  the  more  affluent  their  resources,  the 
more  humane  their  policy.    Would  Samuel  Adams  have  been 
a  truer  popular  leader  had  he  been  less  an  educated  man? 
Would  Walpole  the  less  truly  have  served  his  country  had  he 
been,  with  all  his  capacities,  a  man  whom  England  could  have  15 
revered  and  loved?   Could  Gladstone  so  sway  England  with  his 
serene  eloquence,  as  the  moon  the  tides,  were  he  a  gambling, 
swearing,  boozing  squire  like  Walpole?    There  is  no  sophistry 
more  poisonous  to  the  state,  no  folly  more  stupendous  and  de 
moralizing,  than  the  notion  that  the  purest  character  and  the  20 
highest  education  are  incompatible  with  the  most  commanding  / 
mastery  of  men  and  the  most  efficient  administration  of  affairs. 
1 1 .  Undoubtedly  a  practical  and  active  interest  in  politics 
will    lead  you   to  party  association   and   cooperation.    Great 
public  results  —  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws  in  England,  the  25 
abolition  of  slavery  in  America  —  are  due  to  that  organization 
of  effort  and  concentration  of  aim  which  arouse,  instruct,  and 
inspire  the  popular  heart  and  will.    This  is  the  spring  of  party, 
and  those  who  earnestly  seek  practical  results  instinctively  turn 
to  this  agency  of  united  action.    But  in  this  tendency,  useful  30 
in  the  state  as  the  fire  upon  the  household  hearth,  lurks,  as  in 
that  fire,  the  deadliest  peril.    Here  is  our  republic  —  it  is  a 
ship  with  towering  canvas  spread,  sweeping  before  the  pros 
perous  gale  over  a  foaming  and  sparkling  sea ;  it  is  a  lightning 


200      THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF  EDUCATED   MEN 

train,  darting  with  awful  speed  along  the  edge  of  dizzy  abysses 
and  across  bridges  that  quiver  over  unsounded  gulfs.    Because 
we  are  Americans,  we  have  no  peculiar  charm,  no  magic  spell, 
to  stay  the  eternal  laws.    Our  safety  lies  alone  in  cool  self- 
5  possession,  directing  the  forces  of  wind  and  wave  and  fire.    If 
once  the  madness  to  which  the  excitement  tends  usurps  con- 
/./'fr01,  the  catastrophe  is  inevitable.    And  so  deep  is  the  convic 
tion  that  sooner  or  later  this  madness  must  seize  every  republic, 
that  the  most  plausible  suspicion  of  the  permanence  of  the 
i.o  American  government  is  founded  in  the  belief  that  party  spirit 
cannot  be  restrained.    It  is  indeed  a  master  passion,  but  its 
control  is  the  true  conservatism  of  the  republic  and  of  happy 
human  progress;  and  it  is  men  made  familiar  by  education 
with  the  history  of  its  ghastly  catastrophes,  men  with  the  proud 
15  courage  of  independence,  who  are  to  temper  by  lofty  action, 
born  of  that  knowledge,  the  ferocity  of  party  spirit. 

•12.  The  first  object  of  concerted   political  action  is  the 
highest  welfare  of  the  country.    But  the  conditions  of  party 
association  are  such  that  the  means  are  constantly  and  easily 
20  substituted  for  the  end.  The  sophistry  is  subtle  and  seductive. 
Holding  the  ascendency  of  his  party  essential  to  the  national 
welfare,  the  zealous  partisan  merges  patriotism  in  party.    He 
insists  that  not  to  sustain  the  party  is  to  betray  the  country, 
and  against  all  honest  doubt  and  reasonable  hesitation  and 
25  reluctance,  he  vehemently  urges  that  quibbles  of  conscience 
must  be  sacrificed  to  the  public  good  ;   that  wise  and  practical- 
men  will  not  be  squeamish;   that  every  soldier  in  the  army 
cannot  indulge  his  own  whims ;  and  that  if  the  majority  may 
justly  prevail  in  determining  the  government,  it  must  not  be 
30  questioned  in  the  control  of  a  party. 

J  iwJ3-  This  spirit  adds  moral  coercion  to  sophistry.  It  de 
nounces  as  a  traitor  him  who  protests  against  party  tyranny, 
and  it  makes  unflinching  adherence  to  what  is  called  regular 
party  action  the  condition  of  the  gratification  of  honorable 


CURTIS  201 

K-Le,  J^JcLC^v'-  ~M-^ 

political  ambition.    Because  a  man  who  sympathizes  with  the 
party  aims  refuses  to  vote  for  a  thief,  this  spirit  scorns  him  as 
a  rat  and  a  renegade.    Because  he  holds  to  principle  and  law 
against  party  expediency  and  dictation,  he  is  proclaimed  to 
have  betrayed  his  country,  justice,  and  humanity.    Because  he  ^$T" 
tranquilly   insists   upon  deciding  for   himself  when   he   must 
dissent  from  his  party,  he  is  reviled  as  a  popinjay  and  a  vision- * 
ary  fool.    Seeking  with  honest  purpose   only  the  welfare  of 
his  country,   the  hot  air  around  him   hums  with  the  cry  of 
"  the  grand  old  party,"  "  the  tradition^  of  the  party,"  "  loyalty  10 
to  the  party,"  "future  of  the  party,"  "servant  of  the  party," 
and  he  sees  and  hears  the  gorged  and  portly  money  changers 
in  the  temple  usurping,  the  very  divinity  of  the  God.    Young 
hearts  !  be  not  dismayed.    If  ever  any  one  of  you  shall  be  the 
man  so  denounced,  do  not  forget  that  your  own  individual  15 
convictions  are  the  whip  of  small  cords  which  God  has  put 
into  your  hands  to  expel  the  blasphemers. 

14.  The  same  party  spirit  naturally  denies  the  patriotism 
of  its  opponents.  Identifying  itself  with  the  country,  it  regards 
all  others  as  public  enemies.  This  is  substantially  revolution-  20 
ary  politics.  It  is  the  condition  of  France,  where,  in  its  own 
words,  the  revolution  is  permanent.  Instead  of  regarding  the 
other  party  as  legitimate  opponents  —  in  the  English  phrase, 
His  Majesty's  Opposition  —  lawfully  seeking  a  different  policy 
under  the  government,  it  decries  that  party  as  a  conspiracy  25 
plotting  the  overthrow  of  the  government  itself.  History  is 
lurid  with  the  wasting  fires  of  this  madness.  We  need  not  look 
to  that  of  other  lands.  Our  own  is  full  of  it.  It  is  painful  to 
turn  to  the  opening  years  of  the  Union,  and  see  how  the  great 
men  whom  we  are  taught  to  revere,  and  to  whose  fostering  30 
care  the  beginning  of  the  republic  was  intrusted,  fanned  their 
hatred  and  suspicion  of  each  other.  Do  not  trust  the  flatter 
ing  voices  that  whisper  of  a  Golden  Age  behind  us,  and  be 
moan  our  own  as  a  degenerate  day.  The  castles  of  hope  always 


202       THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED    MEN 

shine  along  the  horizon.  Our  fathers  saw  theirs  where  we  are 
standing.  We  behold  ours  where  our  fathers  stood.  But  pen 
sive  regret  for  the  heroic  past,  like  eager  anticipation  of  the 
future,  shows  only  that  the  vision  of  a  loftier  life  forever 
5  allures  the  human  soul.  We  think  our  fathers  to  have  been 
wiser  than  we,  and  their  day  more  enviable.  But  eighty  years 
ago  the  Federalists  abhorred  their  opponents  as  Jacobins,  and 
thought  Robespierre  and  Marat  no  worse  than  Washington's 
Secretary  of  State.  Their  opponents  retorted  that  the  Federal- 

10  ists  were  plotting  to  establish  a  monarchy  by  force  of  arms. 
The  New  England  pulpit  anathematized  Tom  Jefferson  as  an 
atheist  and  a  satyr.  Jefferson  denounced  John  Jay  as  a  rogue, 
and  the  chief  newspaper  of  the  opposition,  on  the  morning 
that  Washington  retired  from  the  presidency,  thanked  God 

15  that  the  country  was  now  rid  of  the  man  who  was  the  source 
of  all  its  misfortunes.  There  is  no  mire  in  which  party  spirit 
wallows  to-day  with  which  our  fathers  were  not  befouled,  and 
how  little  sincere  the  vituperation  was,  how  shallow  a  fury, 
appears  when  Jefferson  and  Adams  had  retired  from  public 

20  life.  Then  they  corresponded  placidly  and  familiarly,  each  at 
last  conscious  of  the  other's  fervent  patriotism;  and  when 
they  died,  they  were  lamented  in  common  by  those  who  in 
their  names  had  flown  at  each  other's  throats,  as  the  patri 
archal  Castor  and  Pollux  of  the  pure  age  of  our  politics,  now 

25  fixed  as  a  constellation  of  hope  in  our  heaven. 

15.  The  same  brutal  spirit  showed  itself  at  the  time  of 
Andrew  Johnson's  impeachment.  Impeachment  is  a  proceed 
ing  to  be  instituted  only  for  great  public  reasons,  which  should, 
presumptively,  command  universal  support.  To  prostitute  the 

30  power  of  impeachment  to  a  mere  party  purpose  would  readily 
lead  to  the  reversal  of  the  result  of  an  election.  But  it  was 
made  a  party  measure.  The  party  was  to  be  whipped  into  its 
support :  and  when  certain  senators  broke  the  party  yoke 
upon  their  necks,  and  voted  according  to  their  convictions,  as 


CURTIS  203 

honorable  men  always  will,  whether  the  party  whips  like  it 
or  not,  one  of  the  whippers-in  exclaimed  of  a  patriotism  the 
struggle  of  obedience  to  which  cost  one  senator,  at  least,  his 
life,  —  "If  there  is  anything  worse  than  the  treachery,  it  is  the 
cant  which  pretends  that  it  is  the  result  of  conscientious  con-  5 
viction ;  the  pretense  of  a  conscience  is  quite  unbearable." 
This  was  the  very  acridity  of  bigotry,  which  in  other  times 
and  countries  raised  the  cruel  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
burned  opponents  for  the  glory  of  God.  The  party  madness 
that  dictated  these  words,  and  the  sympathy  that  approved  10 
them,  was  treason  not  alone  to  the  country  but  to  well-ordered 
human  society.  Murder  may  destroy  great  statesmen,  but 
corruption  makes  great  states  impossible;  and  this  was  an 
attempt  at  the  most  insidious  corruption.  The  man  who 
attempts  to  terrify  a  senator  of  the  United  States  to  cast  a  15 
dishonest  vote,  by  stigmatizing  him  as  a  hypocrite  and  devot 
ing  him  to  party  hatred,  is  only  a  more  plausible  rascal  than 
his  opponent  who  gives  Pat  O'Flanagan  a  fraudulent  natural 
ization  paper  or  buys  his  vote  with  a  dollar  or  a  glass  of  whisky. 
Whatever  the  offenses  of  the  President  may  have  been,  they  20 
were  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the  party  spirit  which 
declared  that  it  was  tired  of  the  intolerable  cant  of  honesty. 
So  the  sneering  cavalier  was  tired  of  the  cant  of  the  Puritan 
conscience ;  but  the  conscience  of  which  plumed  Injustice 
and  coroneted  Privilege  were  tired  has  been  for  three  cen-  25 
turies  the  invincible  bodyguard  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

1 6.  Gentlemen,  how  dire  a  calamity  the  same  party  spirit 
was  preparing  for  the  country  within  a  few  months,  we  can 
now  perceive  with  amazement  and  with  hearty  thanksgiving 
for  a  great  deliverance.  The  ordeal  of  last  winter  was  the  30 
severest  strain  ever  yet  applied  to  republican  institutions.  It 
was  a  mortal  strain  along  the  very  fiber  of  our  system.  It  was 
not  a  collision  of  sections,  nor  a  conflict  of  principles  of  civi 
lization.  It  was  a  supreme  and  triumphant  test  of  American 


204      THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED   MEN 

patriotism.  Greater  than  the  declaration  of  independence  by 
colonies  hopelessly  alienated  from  the  Crown  and  already  in 
arms;  greater  than  emancipation,  as  a  military  expedient, 
amid  the  throes  of  civil  war,  was  the  peaceful  and  reasonable 
5  consent  of  two  vast  parties  —  in  a  crisis  plainly  foreseen  and 
criminally  neglected  —  a  crisis  in  which  each  party  asserted 
its  solution  to  be  indisputable  —  to  devise  a  lawful  settlement 
of  the  tremendous  contest,  a  settlement  which,  through  furi 
ous  storms  of  disappointment  and  rage,  has  been  religiously 

10  respected.  We  are  told  that  our  politics  are  mean  —  that 
already,  in  its  hundredth  year,  the  decadence  of  the  Ameri 
can  republic  appears  and  the  hope  of  the  world  is  clouded. 
But  tell  me,  scholars,  in  what  high  hour  of  Greece,  when,  as 
De  Witt  Clinton  declared,  the  herb-woman  could  criticise  the 

15  phraseology  of  Demosthenes,  and  the  meanest  artisan  could 
pronounce  judgment  on  the  works  of  Apelles  and  Phidias,  or 
at  what  proud  epoch  of  imperial  Rome,  or  millennial  moment 
of  the  fierce  Italian  republics,  was  ever  so  momentous  a  party 
difference  so  wisely,  so  peacefully,  so  humanely,  composed? 

20  Had  the  sophistry  of  party  prevailed,  had  each  side  resolved 
that  not  to  insist  upon  its  own  claim  at  every  hazard  was  what 
the  mad  party  spirit  of  each  side  declared  it  to  be,  a  pusillani 
mous  surrender;  had  the  spirit  of  Marius  mastered  one  party 
and  that  of  Sylla  the  other,  this  waving  valley  of  the  Mohawk 

25  would  not  to-day  murmur  with  the  music  of  industry,  and 
these  tranquil  voices  of  scholars  blending  with  its  happy  har 
vest  song ;  it  would  have  smoked  and  roared  with  fraternal 
war,  and  this  shuddering  river  would  have  run  red  through 
desolated  meadows  and  by  burning  homes. 

30  17.  It  is  because  these  consequences  are  familiar  to  the 
knowledge  of  educated  and  thoughtful  men  that  such  men 
are  constantly  to  assuage  this  party  fire  and  to  take  care  that 
party  is  always  subordinated  to  patriotism.  Perfect  party  dis 
cipline  is  the  most  dangerous  weapon  of  party  spirit,  for  it  is 


CURTIS  205 

the  abdication  of  the  individual  judgment :  it  is  the  applica 
tion  to  political  parties  of  the  Jesuit  principle  of  implicit 
obedience. 

1 8.  It  is  for  you  to  help  break  this  withering  spell.    It  is 
for  you  to  assert  the  independence  and  the  dignity  of  the    5 
individual  citizen,  and  to  prove  that  party  was  made  for  the 
voter,  not  the  voter  for  party.  When  you  are  angrily  told  that 

if  you  erect  your  personal  whim  against  the  regular  party 
behest,  you  make  representative  government  impossible  by 
refusing  to  accept  its  conditions,  hold  fast  by  your  own  con-  10 
science  and  let  the  party  go.  There  is  not  an  American  mer 
chant  who  would  send  a  ship  to  sea  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Kidd,  however  skillful  a  sailor  he  might  be.  Why 
should  he  vote  to  send  Captain  Kidd  to  the  legislature  or  to 
put  him  in  command  of  the  ship  of  state  because  his  party  15 
directs?  The  party  which  to-day  nominates  Captain  Kidd, 
will  to-morrow  nominate  Judas  Iscariot ;  and  to-morrow,  as 
to-day,  party  spirit  will  spurn  you  as  a  traitor  for  refusing  to 
sell  your  master.  "  I  tell  you,"  said  an  ardent  and  well-mean 
ing  partisan,  speaking  of  a  closely  contested  election  in  another  20 
state,  "  I  tell  you  it  is  a  nasty  state,  and  I  hope  we  have  done 
nasty  work  enough  to  carry  it."  But  if  your  state  has  been 
carried  by  nasty  means  this  year,  success  will  require  nastier 
next  year,  and  the  nastiest  means  will  always  carry  it.  The 
party  may  win,  but  the  state  will  have  been  lost,  for  there  are  25 
successes  which  are  failures.  When  a  man  is  sitting  upon  the 
bough  of  a  tree  and  diligently  sawing  it  off  between  himself 
and  the  trunk,  he  may  succeed,  but  his  success  will  break  his 
neck. 

19.  The  remedy  for  the  constant  excess  of  party  spirit  lies,  30 
and  lies  alone,  in  the  courageous  independence  of  the  individ 
ual  citizen.    The  only  way,  for  instance,  to  procure  the  party 
nomination  of  good  men,  is  for  every  self-respecting  voter  to 
refuse  to  vote  for  bad  men.    In  the  mediaeval  theology  the 


206      THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED    MEN 

devils  feared  nothing  so  much  as  the  drop  of  holy  water  and 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  by  which  they  were  exorcised.  The  evil 
spirits  of  party  fear  nothing  so  much  as  bolting  and  scratching. 
In  hoc  signo  vinces.  If  a  farmer  would  reap  a  good  crop,  he 
5  scratches  the  weeds  out  of  his  field.  If  we  would  have  good 
men  upon  the  ticket,  we  must  scratch  bad  men  off.  If  the 
scratching  breaks  down  the  party,  let  it  break ;  for  the  success 
of  the  party  by  such  means  would  break  down  the  country. 
The  evil  spirits  must  be  taught  by  means  that  they  can  under- 

10  stand.  "Them  fellers  " —  said  the  captain  of  a  canal  boat  of 
his  men  —  "  them  fellers  never  think  you  mean  a  thing  until 
you  kick  'em.  They  feel  that,  and  understand." 

20.  It  is  especially  necessary  for  us  to  perceive  the  vital 
relation  of  individual  courage  and  character  to  the  common 

15  welfare  because  ours  is  a  government  of  public  opinion,  and 
public  opinion  is  but  the  aggregate  of  individual  thought.  We 
have  the  awful  responsibility  as  a  community  of  doing  what 
we  choose ;  and  it  is  of  the  last  importance  that  we  choose  to 
do  what  is  wise  and  right.  In  the  early  days  of  the  antislavery 

20  agitation  a  meeting  was  called  at  Faneuil  Hall,  in  Boston, 
which  a  good-natured  mob  of  sailors  was  hired  to  suppress. 
They  took  possession  of  the  floor  and  danced  breakdowns  and 
shouted  choruses  and  refused  to  hear  any  of  the  orators  upon 
the  platform.  The  most  eloquent  pleaded  with,  them  in  vain. 

25  They  were  urged  by  the  memories  of  the  Cradle  of  Liberty, 
for  the  honor  of  Massachusetts,  for  their  own  honor  as  Boston 
boys,  to  respect  liberty  of  speech.  But  they  still  laughed  and 
sang  and  danced,  and  were  proof  against  every  appeal.  At 
last  a  man  suddenly  arose  from  among  themselves,  and  be- 

30  gan  to  speak.  Struck  by  his  tone  and  quaint  appearance,  and 
with  the  thought  that  he  might  be  one  of  themselves,  the 
mob  became  suddenly,  still.  "  Well,  fellow-citizens,"  he  said, 
"I  wouldn't  be  quiet  if  I  didn't  want  to."  The  words  were 
greeted  with  a  roar  of  delight  from  the  mob,  which  supposed 


CURTIS  207 

it  had  found  its  champion,  and  the  applause  was  unceasing 
for  five  minutes, -during  which  the  strange  orator  tranquilly 
awaited   his   chance   to    continue.    The   wish   to   hear  more 
hushed  the  tumult,  and  when  the  hall  was  still  he  resumed  : 
"  No,  I  certainly  would  n't  stop  if  I  had  n't  a  mind  to ;  but    5 
then,  if  I  were  you,  I  would  have  a  mind  to  !  "    The  oddity  of 
the  remark  and  the  earnestness  of  the  tone  held  the  crowd 
silent,  and  the  speaker  continued,  "  not  because  this  is  Fan- 
euil  Hall,  nor  for  the  honor  of  Massachusetts,  nor  because 
you  are  Boston  boys,  but  because  you  are  men,  and  because  10 
honorable   and    generous    men  always    love  fair  play."    The 
mob  was  conquered.    Free  speech  and  fair  play  were  secured. 
Public  opinion  can  do  what  it  has  a  mind  to  in  this  country. 
If  it  be  debased  and  demoralized,   it  is  the  most  odious  of 
tyrants.    It  is  Nero  and  Caligula  multiplied  by  millions.    Can  15 
there  then  be  a  more  stringent  public  duty  for  every  man  — 
and  the  greater   the  intelligence  the  greater  the  duty  —  than 
to  take  care,  by  all  the  influence  he  can  command,  that  the 
country,  the  majority,  public  opinion,  shall  have  a  mind  to  do 
only  what  is  just  and  pure  and  humane  ? 

21.  Gentlemen,  leaving  this  college  to  take  your  part  in 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  American  citizenship,  every 
sign  encourages  and  inspires.  The  year  that  is  now  ending, 
the  year  that  opens  the  second  century  of  our  history,  has 
furnished  the  supreme  proof  that  in  a  country  of  rigorous  25 
party  division  the  purest  patriotism  exists.  That,  and  that 
only,  is  the  pledge  of  a  prosperous  future.  No  mere  party 
fervor,  or  party  fidelity,  or  party  discipline,  could  fully  restore 
a  country  torn  and  distracted  by  the  fierce  debate  of  a  century 
and  the  convulsions  of  civil  war ;  nothing  less  than  a  patriot-  30 
ism  all-embracing  as  the  summer  air  could  heal  a  wound  so 
wide.  I  know  —  no  man  better  —  how  hard  it  is  for  earnest 
men  to  separate  their  country  from  their  party,  or  their 
religion  from  their  sect.  But  nevertheless  the  welfare  of  the 


208      THE   PUBLIC   DUTY   OF   EDUCATED   MEN 

country  is  dearer  than  the  mere  victory  of  party,  as  truth  is 
more  precious  than  the  interest  of  any  sect.  You  will  hear 
this  patriotism  scorned  as  an  impracticable  theory,  as  the 
dream  of  a  cloister,  as  the  whim  of  a  fool.  But  such  was  the 
5  folly  of  the  Spartan  Leonidas,  staying  with  his  three  hundred 
the  Persian  horde  and  teaching  Greece  the  self-reliance  that 
saved  her.  Such  was  the  folly  of  the  Swiss  Arnold  von  Winkel- 
ried,  gathering  into  his  own  breast  the  host  of  Austrian  spears, 
making  his  dead  body  the  bridge  of  victory  for  his  country- 

10  men.  Such  was  the  folly  of  the  American  Nathan  Hale,  gladly 
risking  the  seeming  disgrace  of  his  name,  and  grieving  that  he 
had  but  one  life  to  give  for  his  country.  Such  are  the  beacon 
lights  of  a  pure  patriotism  that  burn  forever  in  men's  memories 
and  answer  each  other  through  the  illuminated  ages.  And  of 

15  the  same  grandeur,  in  less  heroic  and  poetic  form,  was  the 
patriotism  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  recent  history.  He  was  the 
leader  of  a  great  party  and  the  prime  minister  of  England. 
The  character  and  necessity  of  party  were  as  plain  to  him  as 
to  any  man.  But  when  he  saw  that  the  national  welfare 

20  demanded  the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws  which  he  had  always 
supported,  he  did  not  quail.  Amply  avowing  the  error  of  a 
life  and  the  duty  of  avowing  it  —  foreseeing  the  probable  over 
throw  of  his  party  and  the  bitter  execration  that  must  fall 
upon  him,  he  tranquilly  did  his  duty.  With  the  eyes  of  Eng- 

25  land  fixed  upon  him  in  mingled  amazement,  admiration,  and 
indignation,  he  rose  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  perform  as 
great  a  service  as  any  English  statesman  ever  performed  for 
his  country,  and  in  closing  his  last  speech  in  favor  of  the 
repeal,  describing  the  consequences  that  its  mere  prospect  had 

30  produced,  he  loftily  exclaimed  :  "  Where  there  was  dissatis 
faction,  I  see  contentment ;  where  there  was  turbulence,  I  see 
there  is  peace ;  where  there  was  disloyalty,  I  see  there  is 
loyalty.  I  see  a  disposition  to  confide  in  you,  and  not  to 
agitate  questions  that  are  the  foundations  of  your  institutions." 


CURTIS  209 

When  all  was  over,  when  he  had  left  office,  when  his  party 
was  out  of  power,  and  the  fury  of  party  execration  against 
him  was  spent,  his  position  was  greater  and  nobler  than  it  had 
ever  been.  Cobden  said  of  him,  "  Sir  Robert  Peel  has  lost 
office,  but  he  has  gained  a  country  ";  and  Lord  Balling  said  5 
of  him,  what  may  truly  be  said  of  Washington  :  "  Above  all 
parties,  himself  a  party,  he  had  trained  his  own  mind  into  a 
disinterested  sympathy  with  the  intelligence  of  his  country." 

22.  A  public  spirit  so  lofty  is  not  confined  to  other  ages 
and  lands.    You  are  conscious  of  its  stirrings  in  your  souls.    It  10 
calls  you  to  courageous  service,  and  I  am  here   to  bid  you 
obey  the  call.    Such  patriotism  may  be  ours.    Let  it  be  your 
parting  vow  that  it  shall  be  yours.    Bolingbroke  described  a 
patriot  king  in  England ;   I  can  imagine  a  patriot  president  in 
America.    I  can  see  him  indeed  the  choice  of  a  party,  and  15 
called  to  administer  the  government  when  sectional  jealousy  is 
fiercest  and  party  passion  most  inflamed.    I  can  imagine  him 
seeing  clearly  what  justice  and  humanity,  the  national  law  and 
the  national  welfare,  require  him  to  do,  and  resolved  to  do  it. 
I  can  imagine  him  patiently  enduring  not  only  the  mad  cry  of  20 
party  hate,  the  taunt  of  "  recreant "  and  "  traitor,"  of  "  rene 
gade  "  and  "coward,"  but  what  is  harder  to  bear,  the  amaze 
ment,  the  doubt,  the  grief,  the  denunciation,  of  those  as  sin 
cerely  devoted  as  he  to  the  common  welfare.    I  can  imagine 
him  pushing  firmly  on,  trusting  the  heart,  the  intelligence,  the  25 
conscience  of  his  countrymen ;  healing  angry  wounds,  correct 
ing  misunderstandings,  planting  justice  on  surer  foundations, 
and,  whether  his  party  rise  or  fall,  lifting  his  country  heaven 
ward  to  a  more  perfect  union,  prosperity,  and  peace.    This  is 
the  spirit  of  a  patriotism  that  girds  the  commonwealth  with  30 
the  resistless   splendor  of  the   moral  law  —  the  invulnerable 
panoply  of  states,  the  celestial  secret  of  a  great  nation  and  a 
happy  people. 


6 


THE  RACE  PROBLEM  IN  THE 
SOUTH 

HENRY  W.  GRADY 

A  SPEECH  DELIVERED  AT  THE  ANNUAL  BANQUET  OF  THE  BOSTON 
MERCHANTS'  ASSOCIATION  IN  DECEMBER,  1889. 

INTRODUCTION 

Henry  Woodfin  Grady,  journalist  and  orator,  was  born  at 
Athens,  Georgia,  April  24,  1850.  He  graduated  from  the  State 
University  at  Athens  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  took  a  post 
graduate  course  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  For  some  time  he 
acted  as  Southern  correspondent  for  the  New  York  Herald,  and 
later  became  editor  of  the  Rome(Georgia)  Daily  Commercial  and 
of  the  Atlanta  Herald.  His  journalistic  efforts  were  not  finan 
cially  successful  until,  in  1880,  he  became  editor  and  part  owner 
of  the  Atlanta  Constitution.  He  remained  with  this  paper  until 
his  death,  December  23,  1889. 

To  the  argument  that  the  press  in  modern  times  has  supplanted 
oratory,  the  career  of  Henry  W.  Grady  is  a  refutation.  Journalism 
was  his  profession,  while  his  oratory  was  an  incident ;  and  yet  his 
fame  and  influence  came  chiefly  through  the  incident.  It  is  not 
two  decades  since  his  last  public  address,  the  oration  in  this 
volume,  was  delivered,  yet  even  now  the  story  of  his  oratorical 
triumphs  reads  like  a  doubtful  tale.  On  December  22,  1886,  he 
accepted  an  invitation  to  speak  on  the  "  New  South "  at  the 
annual  banquet  of  the  New  England  Society,  in  New  York  City. 
The  reception  of  this  speech,  both  by  the  immediate  audience 
and  by  that  larger  audience  reached  through  the  press,  amounted 
to  a  sensation.  The  night  of  the  speech  Grady  was  favorably 
known  in  his  own  section ;  the  next  morning  he  was  receiving  the 

211 


212        THE    RACE    PROBLEM    IN   THE   SOUTH 

enthusiastic  plaudits  of  the  whole  country.  Not  excepting  Mr. 
Bryan's  effort  at  Chicago,  —  and  excelling  it  in  sustained  interest 
and  influence,  —  nothing  in  the  history  of  modern  oratory  equals 
Grady's  rocket-like  flight  to  fame.  Through  this  single  speech 
he  became  a  national  figure,  and  his  oratory  of  national  renown 
and  influence. 

The  better  to  understand  Grady's  oratory,  let  us  briefly  consider 
his  equipment,  and  the  cause  to  which  his  life  was  devoted. 

Introduced  to  a  Boston  audience  as  "  the  incomparable  orator 
of  the  day,"  Grady  remarked,  "  I  am  a  talker  by  inheritance  :  my 
father  was  an  Irishman  and  my  mother  was  a  woman."  His  Irish 
ancestry  may  explain  his  ready  wit  and  delicious  humor,  his 
facility  and  fluency  in  extempore  speaking,  and,  in  part,  the 
ornateness-and  emotionalism  that  characterize  his  speeches.  His 
experience  as  a  reporter  in  various  fields  no  doubt  aided  him  in 
acquiring  a  vocabulary,  in  appreciating  the  power  of  words  and 
in  gaining  facility  in  their  use.  Further,  he  must  have  had  the 
oratorical  instinct  early  developed.  At  the  University  of  Georgia 
he  took  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  the  literary  and  debating 
societies,  and  his  chief  ambition  was  to  become  "  Society  Orator." 
At  the  University  of  Virginia  his  main  object,  says  his  biographer, 
Joel  Chandler  Harris,  was  to  perfect  himself  in  oratory. 

Grady's  style  has  been  criticised  as  excessively  ornate.  This 
criticism  is  hardly  applicable  to  the  speech  in  this  volume,  and 
yet  a  leading  Boston  lawyer  described  it  as  a  "  cannon  ball  in  full 
flight,  fringed  with  flowers."  But  taking  his  speeches  as  a  whole, 
there  are  more  flowers  than  cannon  balls.  Grady's  natural  element 
was  in  the  realm  of  fancy  ;  he  aimed  to  move  and  win  his  hearers, 
not  to  drive  or  force  them.  In  the  prohibition  campaign  in 
Atlanta,  in  1887,  Grady  came  out  as  a  strong  prohibitionist,  while 
his  associate  on  the  Constitution,  Captain  E.  P.  Howell,  was  an 
equally  strong  anti-prohibitionist.  Both  were  on  the  hustings  in 
advocacy  of  their  respective  sides.  A  reporter  on  the  Atlanta 
Evening  Journal  contrasted  their  oratory  in  the  following  descrip 
tion,  which  is  interesting  as  a  record  of  contemporary  impressions : 

"  Howell  makes  you  feel  as  if  he  were  the  commander  of  an 
army,  waving  his  sword  and  saying,  '  Follow  me,'  and  you  would 
follow  him  to  the  death  ;  Grady  makes  you  feel  like  you  want  to 
be  an  angel  and  with  the  angels  stand.  Howell  will  march  his 
audience,  like  an  army,  through  flood  and  fire  and  hell ;  with 


GRADY  213 

subtle  humor  Grady  will  lead  his  audience  by  the  still  waters 
where  pleasant  pastures  lie,  and  there  he  will  '  take  the  wings  of 
the  morning  and  fly  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea.'  In  HowelPs 
march  the  drumbeat  never  ceases  ;  in  Grady's  flights  you  only  hear 
the  cherubim's  wings.  Howell's  eloquence  is  like  a  rushing  moun 
tain  stream  that  tears  every  rock  and  crag  from  its  path,  gathering 
volume  as  it  goes  ;  Grady's  is  like  a  cumulus  cloud  that  rises 
invisible  as  mist  till  it  unfolds  its  white  banners  in  the  sky. 
Howell  will  doubtless  deal  in  statistics  ;  Grady  will  have  figures, 
but  they  will  not  smell  of  the  census.  They  will  take  on  the 
pleasing  shape  that  induced  one  of  his  reporters  to  plant  a  crop 
of  Irish  potatoes  on  a  speculation.  To-night  Atlanta  will  be 
treated  to  a  hopeful  view  of  prohibition  by  the  most  eloquent 
optimist  in  the  country." 

The  great  cause  to  which  Grady  gave  his  life  was  that  of  the 
South  and  her  future.  Journalism  was  his  profession,  but  the 
"  New  South  "  was  his  passion.  Of  this  subject  he  never  tired, 
and  he  discussed  it  "  with  a  brilliancy,  a  fervor,  a  versatility,  and 
a  fluency  marvelous  enough  to  have  made  the  reputation  of  half 
a  dozen  men."  In  the  preceding  oration  in  this  volume  Curtis 
makes  an  eloquent  plea  for  the  higher  politics,  —  the  politics 
that  is  above  partisanship  and  self-seeking.  To  this  higher  politics 
Grady's  contribution  was  that  he  lifted  the  plane  of  sectional 
debate  to  more  candid  and  dignified  interchanges  of  opinion.  It 
is  difficult  at  this  time  to  realize  the  prejudice  and  suspicion  that 
obtained  between  the  North  and  the  South  when  Grady  first  spoke 
in  New  York.  While  the  circumstances  that  made  his  mediation 
necessary  have  largely  disappeared,  these  circumstances  must  be 
borne  in  mind  in  order  to  appreciate  both  the  form  and  the  effect 
of  his  speech.  As  Patrick  Henry  was  the  war  orator  for  the  colo 
nists,  and  Wendell  Phillips  for  the  antislavery  agitators,  Grady 
was  the  orator  for  the  peacemakers.  In  this  work  of  pacification 
his  speeches  necessarily  became  largely  moral  appeals  rather 
than  arguments  ;  hence  the  prevailing  emotional  element  which 
characterizes  his  style. 

And  of  the  New  South  that  Grady  foretold,  what  a  prophecy 
was  he  !  Linked  to  the  past  by  the  memory  of  a  father  killed 
while  fighting  for  the  Confederate  cause,  he  grappled  bravely 
with  war's  terrible  results,  and  turned  his  face  toward  the  future 
with  the  eye  of  a  statesman  and  the  heart  of  a  patriot.  Idolized 


214   THE  RACE  PROBLEM  IN  THE  SOUTH 

by  the  South,  honored  and  esteemed  by  the  nation,  with  a  charac 
ter  above  reproach,  a  soul  on  fire  with  earnestness,  and  a  nature 
peculiarly  tender  and  lovable,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that, 
excepting  our  martyred  presidents,  the  death  of  no  American  has 
caused  such  universal  sorrow. 

The  speech  that  follows  was  delivered  at  the  annual  banquet 
of  the  Boston  Merchants'  Association,  December  13,  1889.  It 
has  a  pathetic  background,  for  on  his  trip  to  Boston  Grady  con 
tracted  a  cold  which  quickly  developed  into  pneumonia,  and  he 
died  shortly  after  returning  to  Atlanta.  Regarding  this  address, 
Mr.  Joel  Chandler  Harris  writes  : 

"  He  prepared  his  Boston  speech  with  great  care,  not  merely 
to  perfect  its  form,  but  to  make  it  worthy  of  the  great  cause  he 
had  at  heart,  and  in  its  preparation  he  departed  widely  from  his 
usual  methods  of  composition.  He  sent  his  servants  away,  locked 
himself  in  his  room,  and  would  not  tolerate  interruptions  from 
any  source.  His  memory  was  so  prodigious  that  whatever  he 
wrote  was  fixed  in  his  mind,  so  that  when  he  had  once  written 
out  a  speech  he  needed  the  manuscript  no  more.  Those  who 
were  with  him  say  that  he  did  not  confine  himself  to  the  printed 
text  of  the  Boston  speech,  but  made  little  excursions  suggested  by 
his  surroundings.  Nevertheless,  that  speech,  as  it  stands,  reaches 
the  high -water  mark  of  modern  oratory.  It  was  his  last,  as  it 
was  his  best,  contribution  to  the  higher  politics  of  the  country." 

1.  MR.  PRESIDENT:  Bidden  by  your  invitation  to  a  discus 
sion  of  the  race  problem  —  forbidden  by  occasion  to  make  a 
political  speech  —  I  appreciate  in  trying  to  reconcile  orders 
with  propriety  the  predicament  of  the  little  maid,  who,  bidden 

5  to  learn  to  swim,  was  yet  adjured,  "Now  go,  my  darling, 
hang  your  clothes  on  a  hickory  limb,  and  don't  go  near  the 
water." 

2.  The  stoutest  apostle  of  the  church,  they  say,  is  the  mis 
sionary,  and  the  missionary,  wherever  he  unfurls  his  flag,  will 

10  never  find  himself  in  deeper  need  of  unction  and  address  than 
I,  bidden  to-night  to  plant  the  standard  of  a  Southern  Dem 
ocrat  in  Boston's  banquet  hall,  and  discuss  the  problem  of  the 


GRADY  215 

races  in  the  home  of  Phillips  and  of  Sumner.  But,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  if  a  purpose  to  speak  in  perfect  frankness  and  sincerity ; 
if  earnest  understanding  of  the  vast  interests  involved ;  if  a 
consecrating  sense  of  what  disaster  may  follow  further  mis 
understanding  and  estrangement,  if  these  may  be  counted  to  5 
steady  undisciplined  speech  and  to  strengthen  an  untried  arm 

—  then,  Sir,  I  find  the  courage  to  proceed. 

3.  Happy  am  I  that  this  mission  has  brought  my  feet  at 
last  to  press  New  England's  historic  soil,  and  my  eyes  to  the 
knowledge  of  her  beauty  and  her  thrift.    Here,  within  touch  10 
of  Plymouth  Rock  and  Bunker  Hill,  where  Webster  thundered 
and  Longfellow  sang,  Emerson  thought  and  Channing  preached, 
here  in  the  cradle  of  American  letters,  and  almost  of  Amer 
ican  liberty,  I  hasten  to  make  the  obeisance  that  every  Amer 
ican  owes  New  England  when  first  he  stands  uncovered  in  15 
her  mighty    presence.    Strange    apparition !     This  stern  and 
unique  figure,  carved  from  the  ocean  and  the  wilderness,  its 
majesty  kindling  and  growing  amid  the  storms  of  winters  and 

of  wars,  until  at  last  the  gloom  was  broken,  its  beauty  dis 
closed  in  the  sunshine,  and  the  heroic  workers  rested  at  its  20 
base  —  while  startled  kings  and  emperors  gazed  and  marveled 
that  from  the  rude  touch  of  this  handful,  cast  on  a  bleak  and 
unknown  shore,  should   have  come  the  embodied  genius  of 
human  government  and  the  perfected  model  of  human  liberty  ! 
God  bless  the  memory  of  those  immortal  workers  and  prosper  25 
the  fortunes  of  their  living  sons  and  perpetuate  the  inspirations 
of  their  handiwork. 

4.  Two  years  ago,  Sir,  I  spoke  some  words  in  New  York 
that  caught  the  attention  of  the  North.    As  I  stand  here  to 
reiterate,  as  I  have  done  everywhere,  every  word  I  then  uttered  30 

—  to  declare  that  the  sentiments  I  then  avowed  were  universally 
approved  in  the  South  —  I  realize  that  the  confidence  begot 
ten  by  that  speech  is  largely  responsible  for  my  presence 
here   to-night.     I  should  dishonor  myself  if  I  betrayed  that 


2l6        THE   RACE   PROBLEM    IN   THE   SOUTH 

confidence  by  uttering  one  insincere  word  or  by  withholding 
one  essential  element  of  the  truth.  Apropos  of  this  last,  let  me 
confess,  Mr.  President  —  before  the  praise  of  New  England 
has  died  on  my  lips  —  that  I  believe  the  best  product  of  her 
5  present  life  is  the  procession  of  17,000  Vermont  Democrats 
that  for  twenty-two  years,  undiminished  by  death,  unrecruited 
by  birth  or  conversion,  have  marched  over  their  rugged  hills, 
cast  their  Democratic  ballots,  and  gone  back  home  to  pray 
for  their  unregenerate  neighbors,  and  awake  to  read  the  rec- 

10  ord  of  25,000  Republican  majority.  May  the  God  of  the 
helpless  and  the  heroic  help  them  —  and  may  their  sturdy 
tribe  increase  ! 

5.  Far  to  the  south,  Mr.  President,  separated  from  this  sec 
tion  by  a  line,  once  defined  in  irrepressible  difference,  once 

15  traced  in  fratricidal  blood,  and  now,  thank  God,  but  a  vanish 
ing  shadow,  lies  the  fairest  and  richest  domain  of  this  earth. 
It  is  the  home  of  a  brave  and  hospitable  people.  There,  is  cen 
tered  all  that  can  please  or  prosper  humankind.  A  perfect 
climate  above  a  fertile  soil  yields  to  the  husbandman  every 

20  product  of  the  temperate  zone.  There,  by  night  the  cotton 
whitens  beneath  the  stars,  and  by  day  the  wheat  locks  the 
sunshine  in  its  bearded  sheaf.  In  the  same  field  the  clover 
steals  the  fragrance  of  the  wind,  and  the  tobacco  catches  the 
quick  aroma  of  the  rains.  There,  are  mountains  stored  with 

25  exhaustless  treasures ;  forests  vast  and  primeval ;   and   rivers 

,  that,  tumbling  or  loitering,  run  wanton  to  the  sea.    Of  the 

three  essential  items  of  all  industries  —  cotton,  iron,  and  wood 

—  that  region  has  easy  control.    In  cotton,  a  fixed  monopoly ; 

in  iron,  proven  supremacy ;   in  timber,  the  reserve  supply  of 

30  the  Republic.  From  this  assured  and  permanent  advantage, 
against  which  artificial  conditions  cannot  much  longer  prevail, 
has  grown  an  amazing  system  of  industries.  Not  maintained 
by  human  contrivance  of  tariff  or  capital,  afar  off  from  the 
fullest  and  cheapest  source  of  supply,  but  resting  in  Divine 


GRADY  217 

assurance,  within  touch  of  field  and  mine  and  forest;    not  - 
set  amid  costly  farms  from  which  competition  has  driven  the 
farmer  in  despair,  but  amid  cheap  and  sunny  lands,  rich  with 
agriculture,  to  which  neither  season  nor  soil  has  set  a  limit,  — 
this  system  of  industries  is  mounting  to  a  splendor  that  shall    5 
dazzle  and  illumine  the  world. 

6.  That,  Sir,  is  the  picture  and  the  promise  of  my  home  —  a 
land  better  and  fairer  than  I  have  told  you,  and  yet  but  fit 
setting,  in  its  material  excellence,  for  the  loyal  and  gentle 
quality  of  its  citizenship.    Against    that,   Sir,  we    have   New  10 
England,  recruiting  the  Republic  from  its  sturdy  loins,  shaking 
from  its  overcrowded  hives  new  swarms  of  workers  and  touch 
ing  this  land  all  over  with  its  energy  and  its  courage.    And  yet, 
while  in  the  El  Dorado  of  which  I  have  told  you,  but  fifteen 
per  cent  of  lands  are  cultivated,  its  mines  scarcely  touched  15 
and  its  population  so  scant  that,  were  it  set  equidistant,  the 
sound  of  the  human  voice  could  not  be  heard  from  Virginia 
to  Texas;   while  on  the  threshold  of  nearly  every  house  in 
New  England  stands  a  son,  seeking  with  troubled  eyes  some 
new  land  to  which  to  carry  his  modest  patrimony,  —  the  strange  20 
fact  remains  that  in  1880  the  South  had  fewer  Northern-born 
citizens  than  she  had  in  1870  —  fewer  in  1870  than  in  1860. 
Why  is  this?    Why  is  it,  Sir,  though  the  sectional  line  be  now 
but  a  mist  that  the  breath  may  dispel,  fewer  men  of  the  North 
have  crossed  it  over  to  the  South  than  when  it  was  crimson  25 
with  the  best  blood  of  the  Republic,  or  even  when  the  slave 
holder  stood  guard  every  inch  of  its  way? 

7.  There  can  be  but  one  answer.  It  is  the  very  problem 
we  are  now  to  consider.  The  key  that  opens  that  problem 
will  unlock  to  the  world  the  fairer  half  of  this  Republic,  and  30 
free  the  halted  feet  of  thousands  whose  eyes  are  already 
kindled  with  its  beauty.  Better  than  this,  it  will  open  the 
hearts  of  brothers  for  thirty  years  estranged,  and  clasp  in  last 
ing  comradeship  a  million  hands  now  withheld  in  doubt. 


2l8   THE  RACE  PROBLEM  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Nothing,  Sir,  but  this  problem,  and  the  suspicions  it  breeds, 
hinders  a  clear  understanding  and  a  perfect  union.  Nothing 
else  stands  between  us  and  such  love  as  bound  Georgia  and 
Massachusetts  at  Valley  Forge  and  Yorktown,  chastened  by 
5  the  sacrifices  at  Manassas  and  Gettysburg,  and  illumined  with 
the  coming  of  better  work  and  a  nobler  destiny  than  was  ever 
wrought  with  the  sword  or  sought  at  the  cannon's  mouth. 

8.  If    this  does  not  invite   your  patient  hearing  to-night, 
hear  one  thing  more.    My  people,  your  brothers  in  the  South 

I0  — brothers  in  blood,  in  destiny,  in  all  that  is  best  in  our  past 
and  future  —  are  so  beset  with  this  problem  that  their  very  ex 
istence  depends  upon  its  right  solution.  Nor  are  they  wholly 
to  blame  for  its  presence.  The  slave  ships  of  the  Republic 
sailed  from  your  ports,  the  slaves  worked  in  our  fields.  You 

15  will  not  defend  the  traffic,  nor  I  the  institution.  But  I  do 
hereby  declare  that  in  its  wise  and  humane  administration, 
in  lifting  the  slave  to  heights  of  which  he  had  not  dreamed 
in  his  savage  home,  and  giving  him  a  happiness  he  has  not 
yet  found  in  freedom,  our  fathers  left  their  sons  a  saving  and 

to  excellent  heritage.  In  the  storm  of  war  this  institution  was 
lost.  I  thank  God  as  heartily  as  you  do  that  human  slavery 
is  gone  forever  from  the  American  soil. 

9.  But  the  freedman  remains.    With  him  a  problem  with 
out  precedent  or  parallel.    Note  its  appalling  conditions.    Two 

25  utterly  dissimilar  races  on  the  same  soil,  with  equal  political 
and  civil  rights,  almost  equal  in  numbers,  but  terribly  unequal 
in  intelligence  and  responsibility,  each  pledged  against  fusion, 
one  for  a  century  in  servitude  to  the  other,  and  freed  at  last 
by  a  desolating  war,  the  experiment  sought  by  neither,  but 

30  approached  by  both  with  doubt,  —  these  are  the  conditions. 
Under  these,  adverse  at  every  point,  we  are  required  to  carry 
these  two  races  in  peace  and  honor  to  the  end.  Never,  Sir, 
has  such  a  task  been  given  to  mortal  stewardship.  Never 
before  in  this  Republic  has  the  white  race  divided  on  the 


GRADY 


219 


rights  of  an  alien  race.  The  red  man  was  cut  down  as  a  weed, 
because  he  hindered  the  way  of  the  American  citizen.  The 
yellow  man  was  shut  out  of  this  Republic  because  he  is  an 
alien  and  inferior.  The  red  man  was  owner  of  the  land,  the 
yellow  man  highly  civilized  and  assimilable,  but  they  hin-  5 
dered  both  sections  —  and  are  gone  ! 

10.  But  the  black  man,  affecting  but  one  section,  is  clothed 
with  every  privilege  of  government  and  pinned  to  the  soil,  and 
my  people  commanded  to  make  good  at  any  hazard  and  at 
any  cost,  his  full  and  equal  heirship  of  American  privilege  and  10 
prosperity.    It   matters    not    that   wherever    the    whites    and 
blacks  have  touched,  in  any  era  or  any  clime,  there  has  been 
irreconcilable    violence.    It   matters   not   that  no   two   races, 
however  similar,  have  lived  anywhere  at  any  time  on  the  same 
soil  with  equal  rights  in  peace.    In  spite  of  these  things  we  15 
are  commanded  to  make  good  this  change  of  American  policy 
which    has   not    perhaps    changed    American    prejudice  —  to 
make  certain  here  what  has  elsewhere  been  impossible  between 
whites  and  blacks  —  and  to  reverse,  under  the  very  worst  con 
ditions,  the  universal  verdict  of  racial  history.    And  driven,  Sir,  20 
to  this  superhuman  task  with  an  impatience  that  brooks  no 
delay,  a  rigor  that  accepts  no  excuse,  and  a  suspicion  that 
discourages  frankness  and  sincerity.    We  do  not  shrink  from 
this  trial.    It  is  so  interwoven  with  our  industrial  fabric  that 
we  cannot  disentangle  it  if  we  would  —  so  bound  up  in  our  25 
honorable  obligation  to  the  world  that  we  would  not  if  we 
could.    Can  we  solve   it?    The   God  who  gave    it   into  our 
hands,  He  alone  can  know.    But  this  the  weakest  and  wisest 
of  us  do  know :  we  cannot  solve  it  with  less  than  your  tol 
erant  and  patient  sympathy  —  with  less  than  the  knowledge  30 
that  the  blood  that  runs  in  your  veins  is  our  blood,  and  that 
when  we  have  done  our  best,  whether  the  issue  be  lost  or  won, 
we  shall  feel  your  strong  arms  about  us  and  hear  the  beating 
of  your  approving  hearts. 


220        THE   RACE    PROBLEM    IN   THE   SOUTH 

11.  The  resolute,  clear-headed,  broad-minded  men  of  the 
South,  the  men  whose  genius  made  glorious  every  page  of  the 
first  seventy  years  of  American  history,  whose  courage  and  for 
titude  you  tested  in  five  years  of  the  fiercest  war,  whose  energy 

5  has  made  bricks  without  straw  and  spread  splendor  amid  the 
ashes  of  their  war- wasted  homes,  —  these  men  wear  this  problem 
in  their  hearts  and  their  brains,  by  day  and  by  night.  They 
realize,  as  you  cannot,  what  this  problem  means  —  what  they 
owe  to  this  kindly  and  dependent  race  —  the  measure  of  their 

10  debt  to  the  world  in  whose  despite  they  defended  and  main 
tained  slavery.  And  though  their  feet  are  hindered  in  its  under 
growth  and  their  march  encumbered  with  its  burdens,  they 
have  lost  neither  the  patience  from  which  comes  clearness  nor 
the  faith  from  which  comes  courage.  Nor,  Sir,  when  in  passion- 

1 5  ate  moments  is  disclosed  to  them  that  vague  and  awful  shadow, 
with  its  lurid  abysses  and  its  crimson  stains,  into  which  I  pray 
God  they  may  never  go,  are  they  struck  with  more  of  appre 
hension  than  is  needed  to  complete  their  consecration ! 

12.  Such  is   the  temper  of  my  people.    But  what  of  the 
20  problem  itself?    Mr.  President,   we   need  not    go   one   step 

farther  unless  you  concede  right  here  the  people  I  speak  for 
are  as  honest,  as  sensible,  and  as  just  as  your  people,  seeking 
as  earnestly  as  you  would  in  their  place,  rightly  to  solve  the 
problem  that  touches  them  at  every  vital  point.  If  you  insist 

25  that  they  are  ruffians,  blindly  striving  with  bludgeon  and  shot 
gun  to  plunder  and  oppress  a  race,  then  I  shall'  sacrifice  my 
self-respect  and  tax  your  patience  in  vain.  But  admit  that 
they  are  men  of  common  sense  and  common  honesty,  wisely 
modifying  an  environment  they  cannot  wholly  disregard,  guid- 

30  ing  and  controlling  as  best  they  can  the  vicious  and  irrespon 
sible  of  either  race,  compensating  error  with  frankness  and 
retrieving  in  patience  what  they  lose  in  passion,  and  conscious 
all  the  time  that  wrong  means  ruin,  —  admit  this,  and  we  may 
reach  an  understanding  to-night. 


GRADY  221 

13.  The  President  of  the  United  States  in  his  late  message 
to  Congress,  discussing  the  plea  that  the  South  should  be  left 
to   solve  this  problem,   asks:   "Are   they  at  work  upon   it? 
What  solution  do  they  offer?    When  will  the  black  man  cast 

a  free  ballot?    When  will  he  have  the  civil  rights  that  are  his?  "    5 
I  shall  not  here  protest  against  the  partisanry  that,  for  the 
first  time  in  our  history  in  time  of  peace,  has  stamped  with 
the  great  seal  of  our  government  a  stigma  upon  the  people  of 
a  great  and  loyal  section,  though  I  gratefully  remember  that 
the  great  dead  soldier,  who  held  the  helm  of  state  for  the  eight  10 
stormy  years  of  reconstruction,  never  found  need  for  such  a 
step;  and  though  there  is  no  personal  sacrifice  I  would  not 
make  to  remove  this  cruel  and  unjust  imputation  on  my  people 
from  the  archives  of  my  country  ! 

14.  But,  Sir,  backed  by  a  record  on  every  page  of  which  is  15 
progress,  I  venture  to  make  earnest  and  respectful  answer  to 
the  questions  that  are  asked.    I  bespeak  your  patience,  while 
with  vigorous    plainness    of   speech,   seeking  your  judgment 
rather  than  your  applause,  I  proceed  step  by  step.    We  give 

to  the  world  this  year  a  crop  of  7,500,000  bales  of  cotton,  20 
worth  $450,000,000,  and  its  cash  equivalent  in  grain,  grasses, 
and  fruit.  This  enormous  crop  could  not  have  come  from  the 
hands  of  sullen  and  discontented  labor.  It  comes  from  peace 
ful  fields,  in  which  laughter  and  gossip  rise  above  the  hum  of 
industry,  and  contentment  runs  with  the  singing  plow.  25 

15.  It  is  claimed  that  this  ignorant  labor  is  defrauded  of  its 
just  hire.    I  present  the  tax  books  of  Georgia,  which  show  that 
the  negro,  25  years  ago  a  slave,  has  in  Georgia  alone  $10,000,- 
ooo  of  assessed  property,  worth  twice  that  much.    Does  no't 
that  record  honor  him  and  vindicate  his  neighbors?    What  30 
people,  penniless,  illiterate,  has  done  so  well?    For  every  Afro- 
American  agitator,  stirring  the  strife  in  which  alone  he  pros 
pers,  I  can  show  you  a  thousand  negroes,  happy  in  their  cabin 
homes,  tilling  their  own  land  by  day,  and  at  night  taking  from 


222        THE   RACE    PROBLEM   IN   THE   SOUTH 

the  lips  of  their  children  the  helpful  message  their  state  sends 
them  from  the  schoolhouse  door.  And  the  schoolhouse  itself 
bears  testimony.  In  Georgia  we  added  last  year  $250,000  to 
the  school  fund,  making  a  total  of  more  than  $1,000,000  — 
5  and  this  in  the  face  of  prejudice  not  yet  conquered  and  of  the 
fact  that  the  whites  are  assessed  for  $368,000,000,  the  blacks 
for  $10,000,000,  and  yet  49  per  cent  of  the  beneficiaries  are 
black  children  —  and  in  the  doubt  of  many  wise  men  if  edu 
cation  helps,  or  can  help,  our  problem.  Charleston,  with  her 

10  taxable  values  cut  half  in  two  since  1860,  pays  more  in  pro 
portion  for  public  schools  than  Boston.  Although  it  is  easier 
to  give  much  out  of  much  than  little  out  of  little,  the  South 
with  one  seventh  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  country,  with 
relatively  larger  debt,  having  received  only  one  twelfth  as 

15  much  public  land,  and  having  back  of  its  tax  books  none  of 
the  half  billion  of  bonds  that  enrich  the  North,  and  though  it 
pays  annually  $26,000,000  to  your  section  as  pensions,  yet 
gives  nearly  one  sixth  of  the  public  school  fund.  The  South 
since  1865  has  spent  $122,000,000  in  education,  and  this  year 

20  is  pledged  to  $37,000,000  for  state  and  city  schools,  although 
the  blacks,  paying  one  thirtieth  of  the  taxes,  get  nearly  one 
half  of  the  fund. 

1 6.  Go  into  our  fields  and  see  whites  and  blacks  working 
side  by  side,  on  our  buildings  in  the  same  squad,  in  our  shops 

25  at  the  same  forge.  Often  the  blacks  crowd  the  whites  from 
work,  or  lower  wages  because  of  greater  need  or  simpler  habits, 
and  yet  are  permitted  because  we  want  to  bar  them  from  no 
avenue  in  which  their  feet  are  fitted  to  tread.  They  could  not 
there  be  elected  orators  of  the  white  universities,  as  they  have 

30  been  here,  but  they  do  enter  there  a  hundred  useful  trades 
that  are  closed  against  them  here.  We  hold  it  better  and 
wiser  to  tend  the  weeds  in  the  garden  than  to  water  the  exotic 
in  the  window.  In  the  South,  there  are  negro  lawyers,  teach 
ers,  editors,  dentists,  doctors,  preachers,  multiplying  with  the 


GRADY  223 

increasing  ability  of  their  race  to  support  them.  In  villages 
and  towns  they  have  their  military  companies  equipped  from 
the  armories  of  the  stated  their  churches  and  societies  built 
and  supported  largely  by  their  neighbors.  What  is  the  testi 
mony  of  the  courts?  In  penal  legislation  we  have  steadily  5 
reduced  felonies  to  misdemeanors,  and  have  led  the  world  in 
mitigating  punishment  for  crime,  that  we  might  save,  as  far 
as  possible,  this  dependent  race  from  its  own  weakness.  In 
our  penitentiary  record  60  per  cent  of  the  prosecutors  are 
negroes,  and  in  every  court  the  negro  criminal  strikes  the  10 
colored  juror,  that  white  men  may  judge  his  case.  In  the 
North  one  negro  in  every  466  is  in  jail;  in  the  South  only 
one  in  1865.  In  the  North  the  percentage  of  negro  prisoners 
is  six  times  as  great  as  native  whites ;  in  the  South  only  four 
times  as  great.  If  prejudice  wrongs  him  in  Southern  courts,  15 
the  record  shows  it  to  be  deeper  in  Northern  courts. 

17.  I  assert  here,  and  a  bar  as  intelligent  and  upright  as 
the  bar  of  Massachusetts  will  solemnly  indorse  my  assertion, 
that  in  the  Southern  courts,  from  highest  to  lowest,  pleading 
for  life,  liberty,  or  property,  the  negro  has  distinct  advantage  20 
because  he  is  a  negro,  apt  to  be  overreached,  oppressed ; 
and  that  this  advantage  reaches  from  the  juror  in  making  his 
verdict  to  the  judge  in  measuring  his  sentence.  Now,  Mr. 
President,  can  it  be  seriously  maintained  that  we  are  terroriz 
ing  the  people  from  whose  willing  hands  come  every  year  25 
$1,000,000,000  of  farm  crops?  or  have  robbed  a  people, 
who  twenty-five  years  from  unrewarded  slavery  have  amassed 
in  one  state  $20,000,000  of  property?  or  that  we  intend  to 
oppress  the  people  we  are  arming  every  day?  or  deceive 
them  when  we  are  educating  them  to  the  utmost  limit  of  our  30 
ability?  or  outlaw  them  when  we  work  side  by  side  with 
them?  or  reenslave  them  under  legal  forms  when  for  their 
benefit  we  have  even  imprudently  narrowed  the  limit  of  felo 
nies  and  mitigated  the  severity  of  law?  My  fellow  countrymen, 


224        THE   RACE   PROBLEM   IN   THE   SOUTH 

as  you  yourself  may  sometimes  have  to  appeal  to  the  bar  of 
human  judgment  for  justice  and  for  right,  give  to  my  people 
to-night  the  fair  and  unanswerable  conclusion  of  these  incon 
testable  facts. 

5       1 8.  But  it  is  claimed  that  under  this  fair  seeming  there  is 
disorder  and  violence.    This  I  admit.    And  there  will  be  until 
there  is  one  ideal  community  on  earth  after  which  we  may 
pattern.    But  how  widely  it  is  misjudged  !    It  is  hard  to  meas 
ure  with  exactness  whatever  touches  the  negro.    His  helpless- 
10  ness,  his  isolation,  his  century  of  servitude,  these  dispose  us  to 
emphasize  and  magnify  his  wrongs.  This  disposition,  inflamed 
by  prejudice  and  partisanry,  has  led   to  injustice  and  delu 
sion.    Lawless  men  may  rayage  a  county  in  Iowa  and  it  is 
accepted  as  an  incident  —  in  the  South  a  drunken  row  is  de- 
15  clared  to  be  the  fixed  habit  of  the  community.    Regulators 
may  whip  vagabonds  in  Indiana  by  platoons,  and  it  scarcely 
arrests   attention  —  a  chance  collision   in   the   South  among 
relatively  the  same  classes  is  gravely  accepted  as   evidence 
that  one  race  is  destroying  the  other.    We  might  as  well  claim 
20  that  the  Union  was  ungrateful  to  the  colored  soldiers  who  fol 
lowed  its  flag,  because  a  Grand  Army  post  in  Connecticut 
closed  its  doors  to  a  negro  veteran,  as  for  you  to  give  racial 
significance  to  every  incident  in  the  South  or  to  accept  excep 
tional  grounds  as  the  rule  of  our  society.    I  am  not  one  of 
25  those  who  becloud  American  honor  with  the  parade  of  the 
outrages  of  either  section,  and  belie  American  character  by 
declaring  them  to  be  significant  and  representative.    I  prefer 
to  maintain  that  they  are  neither,  and  stand  for  nothing  but 
the  passion  and  the  sin  of  our  poor  fallen  humanity.    If  soci- 
30  ety,  like  a  machine,  were  no  stronger  than  its  weakest  part, 
I  should  despair  of  both  sections.    But,  knowing  that  soci 
ety,  sentient  and  responsible  in  every  fiber,  can  mend  and 
repair  until  the  whole  has  the  strength  of  the  best,  I  despair 
of  neither. 


GRADY 


225 


19.  These  gentlemen  who  come  with  me  here,  knit  into 
Georgia's  busy  life  as  they  are,  never  saw,  I  dare  assert,  an 
outrage  committed  on  a  negro!    And  if  they  did,  not  one  of 
you   would  be   swifter  to  prevent  or  punish.    It  is   through 
them,    and    the   men   who   think   with    them  —  making  nine    5 
tenths  of  every  Southern  community  —  that  these  two  races 
have  been  carried,  thus  far  with  less  of  violence  than  would 
have  been  possible  anywhere  else  on  earth.    And  in  their  fair 
ness  and  courage  and  steadfastness,  more  than  in  all  the  laws 
that  can  be  passed  or  all  the  bayonets  that  can  be  mustered,  10 
is  the  hope  of  our  future. 

20.  When  will  the  black  cast  a  free  ballot?    When  igno 
rance  anywhere  is  not  dominated  by  the  will  of  the  intelligent ; 
when  the  laborer  anywhere  casts  a  vote  unhindered  by  his 
boss;  when  the  vote  of  the  poor  anywhere  is  not  influenced  15 
by  the -power  of  the  rich;  when  the  strong  and  the  steadfast 
do  not  everywhere  control  the  suffrage  of  the  weak  and  shift 
less,  —  then  and  not  till  then  will  the  ballot  of  the  negro  be 
free.    The  white  people  of  the  South  are  banded,  Mr.  Presi 
dent,  not  in  prejudice   against   the   blacks,  not  in  sectional  20 
estrangement,  not  in  the  hope  of  political  dominion,  but  in  a 
deep  and  abiding  necessity.    Here  is  this  vast  ignorant  and 
purchasable  vote  —  clannish,  credulous,  impulsive  and  passion 
ate  —  tempting  every  art  of  the  demagogue,  but  insensible  to 
the  appeal  of  the  statesman.    Wrongly  started,  in  that  it  was  25 
led  into  alienation  from  its  neighbor  and  taught  to  rely  on  the 
protection  of  an  outside  force,  it  cannot  be  merged  and  lost 

in  the  two  great  parties  through  logical  currents,  for  it  lacks 
political  conviction  and  even  that  information  on  which  con 
viction  must  be  based.  It  must  remain  a  faction  —  strong  30 
enough  in  every  community  to  control  on  the  slightest  division 
of  the  whites.  Under  that  division  it  becomes  the  prey  of  the 
cunning  and  unscrupulous  of  both  parties.  Its  credulity  is 
imposed  on,  its  patience  inflamed,  its  cupidity  tempted,  its 


22,6   THE  RACE  PROBLEM  IN  THE  SOUTH 

impulses  misdirected,  and  even  its  superstition  made  to  play 
its  part  in  a  campaign  in  which  every  interest  of  society  is 
jeopardized  and  every  approach  to  the  ballot  box  debauched. 
It  is  against  such  campaigns  as  this,  the  folly  and  the  bitter- 
5  ness  and  the  danger  of  which  every  Southern  community  has 
drunk  deeply,  that  the  white  people  of  the  South  are  banded 
together.  Just  as  you  in  Massachusetts  would  be  banded  if 
300,000  black  men,  not  one  in  a  hundred  able  to  read  his  bal 
lot,  banded  in  a  race  instinct,  holding  against  you  the  memory 

10  of  a  century  of  slavery,  taught  by  your  late  Conquerors  to  dis 
trust  and  oppose  you,  had  already  travestied  legislation  from 
your  statehouse,  and  in  every  species  of  folly  or  villainy  had 
wasted  your  substance  and  exhausted  your  credit. 

21.  But  admitting  the  right  of  the  whites  to  unite  against 

15  this  tremendous  menace,  we  are  challenged  with  the  small- 
ness  of  our  vote.  This  has  long  been  flippantly  charged- to  be 
evidence,  and  has  now  been  solemnly  and  officially  declared 
to  be  proof  of  political  turpitude  and  baseness  on  our  part. 
Let  us  see.  Virginia,  a  state  now  under  fierce  assault  for 

20  this  alleged  crime,  in  1888  cast  75  per  cent  of  her  vote. 
Massachusetts,  the  state  in  which  I  speak,  60  per  cent  of  her 
vote.  Was  it  suppression  in  Virginia  and  natural  causes  in 
Massachusetts?  Last  month  Virginia  cast  69  per  cent  of  her 
vote,  "and  Massachusetts,  fighting  in  every  district,  cast  only 

25  49  per  cent  of  hers.  If  Virginia  is  condemned  because  31  per 
cent  of  her  vote  was  silent,  how  shall  this  state  escape  in  which 
51  per  cent  was  dumb?  Let  us  enlarge  this  comparison.  The 
sixteen  Southern  states  in  1888  cast  67  per  cent  of  their  total 
vote,  the  six  New  England  states  but  63  per  cent  of  theirs. 

30  By  what  fair  rule  shall  the  stigma  be  put  upon  one  section, 
while  the  other  escapes?  A  congressional  election  in  New 
York  last  week,  with  the  polling  place  within  touch  of  every 
voter,  brought  out  only  6,000  votes  of  28,000  —  and  the  lack 
of  opposition  is  assigned  as  the  natural  cause.  In  a  district  in 


GRADY  22; 

my  state,  in  which  an  opposition  speech  has  not  been  heard 
in  ten  years,  and  the  polling  places  are  miles  apart  —  under 
the  unfair  reasoning  of  which  my  section  has  been  a  constant 
victim  —  the  small  vote  is  charged  to  be  proof  of  forcible 
suppression.  In  Virginia  an  average  majority  of  10,000,  under  5 
hopeless  division  of  the  minority,  was  raised  to  40,000 ;  in 
Iowa,  in  the  same  election,  a  majority  of  32,000  was  wiped 
out,  and  an  opposition  majority  of  8000  was  established.  The 
change  of  40,000  votes  in  Iowa  is  accepted  as  political  revolu 
tion;  in  Virginia  an  increase  of  30,000  on  a  safe  majority  is  10 
declared  to  be  proof  of  political  fraud.  I  charge  these  facts 
and  figures  home,  Sir,  to  the  heart  and  conscience  of  the 
American  people,  who  will  not  assuredly  see  one  section  con 
demned  for  what  another  section  is  excused  !  If  I  can  drive 
them  through  the  prejudice  of  the  partisan,  and  have  them  15 
read  and  pondered  at  the  fireside  of  the  citizen,  I  will  rest  on 
the  judgment  there  formed  and  the  verdict  there  rendered  ! 

22.  It  is  deplorable,  Sir,  that  in  both  sections  a  larger  per 
centage  of  the  vote  is  not  regularly  cast,  but  more  inexplicable 
that  this  should  be  so  in  New  England  than  in  the  South.  20 
What  invites  the  negro  to  the  ballot  box?  He  knows  that,  of 
all  men,  it  has  promised  him  most  and  yielded  him  least.  His 
first  appeal  to  suffrage  was  the  promise  of  "  forty  acres  and  a 
mule."  His  second,  the  threat  that  Democratic  success  meant 
his  reenslavement.  Both  have  proved  false  in  his  experience.  25 
He  looked  for  a  home,  and  he  got  the  freedman's  bank.  He 
fought  under  the  promise  of  the  loaf,  and  in  victory  was 
denied  the  crumbs.  Discouraged  and  deceived,  he  has  real 
ized  at  last  that  his  best  friends  are  his  neighbors,  with  whom 
his  lot  is  cast,  and  whose  prosperity  is  bound  up  in  his,  and  30 
that  he  has  gained  nothing  in  politics  to  compensate  the  loss  of 
their  confidence  and  sympathy  that  is  at  last  his  best  and  his 
enduring  hope.  And  so,  without  leaders  or  organization  —  and 
lacking  the  resolute  heroism  of  my  party  friends  in  Vermont 


228        THE   RACE   PROBLEM   IN   THE   SOUTH 

that  makes  their  hopeless  march  over  the  hills  a  high  and  inspir 
ing  pilgrimage — he  shrewdly  measures  the  occasional  agitator, 
balances  his  little  account  with  politics,  touches  up  his  mule 
and  jogs  down  the  furrow,  letting  the  mad  world  jog  as  it  will ! 
5  23.  The  negro  vote  can  never  control  in  the  South,  and  it 
would  be  well  if  partisans  in  the  North  would  understand  this. 
I  have  seen  the  white  people  of  a  state  set  about  by  black 
hosts  until  their  fate  seemed  sealed.  But,  Sir,  some  brave  man, 
banding  them  together,  would  rise,  as  Elisha  rose  in  belea- 

10  guered  Samaria,  and  touching  their  eyes  with  faith,  bid  them 
look  abroad  to  see  the  very  air  "  filled  with  the  chariots  of 
Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof."  If  there  is  any  human  force 
that  cannot  be  withstood,  it  is  the  power  of  the  banded  intel 
ligence  and  responsibility  of  a  free  community.  Against  it, 

15  numbers  and  corruption  cannot  prevail.  It  cannot  be  for 
bidden  in  the  law  or  divorced  in  force.  It  is  the  inalienable 
right  of  every  free  community  and  the  just  and  righteous 
safeguard  against  an  ignorant  or  corrupt  suffrage.  It  is  on 
this,  Sir,  that  we  rely  in  the  South.  Not  the  cowardly  menace 

20  of  mask  or  shotgun ;  but  the  peaceful  majesty  of  intelligence 
and  responsibility,  massed  and  unified  for  the  protection  of  its 
homes  and  the  preservation  of  its  liberty.  That,  Sir,  is  our 
reliance  and  our  hope,  and  against  it  all  the  powers  of  the 
earth  shall  not  prevail.  You  may  pass  force  bills,  but  they  will 

25  not  avail.  You  may  surrender  your  own  liberties  to  Federal 
election  law ;  you  may  submit,  in  fear  of  a  necessity  that  does 
not  exist,  that  the  very  form  of  this  government  may  be 
changed ;  this  old  state  that  holds  in  its  charter  the  boast 
that  "  it  is  a  free  and  independent  commonwealth  "  —it  may 

30  deliver  its  election  machinery  into  the  hands  of  the  govern 
ment  it  helped  to  create;  but  never,  Sir,  will  a  single  state  of 
this  Union,  North  or  South,  be  delivered  again  to  the  control 
of  an  ignorant  and  inferior  race.  We  wrested  our  state  gov 
ernment  from  negro  supremacy  when  the  Federal  drumbeat 


GRADY  229 

rolled  closer  to  the  ballot  box  and  Federal  bayonets  hedged  it 
deeper  about  than  will  ever  again  be  permitted  in  this  free 
government.  But,  Sir,  though  the  cannon  of  this  Republic 
thundered  in  every  voting  district  of  the  South,  we  still  should 
find  in  the  mercy  of  God  the  means  and  the  courage  to  pre-  5 
vent  its  reestablishment ! 

24.  I  regret,  Sir,  that  my  section,  hindered  with  this  prob 
lem,  stands  in  seeming  estrangement  to  the  North.     If,  Sir, 
any  man  will  point  out  to  me  a  path  down  which  the  white 
people  of  the  South  divided  may  walk  in  peace  and  honor,  10 
I  will  take  that  path  though  I  take  it  alone  —  for  at  the  end, 
and  nowhere  else,  I  fear,  is  to  be  found  the  full  prosperity  of 
my  section  and  the  full  restoration  of  this  Union.    But,  Sir,  if 
the  negro  had  not  been  enfranchised,  the  South  would  have 
been  divided  and  the  Republic  united.    What  solution,  then,  15 
can  we  offer  for  this  problem?    Time  alone  can  disclose  it  to 
us.    We  simply  report  progress  and  ask  your  patience.    If  the 
problem  be  solved  at  all  —  and  I  firmly  believe  it  will,  though 
nowhere  else  has  it  been  —  it  will  be  solved  by  the  people 
most  deeply  bound  in  interest,  most  deeply  pledged  in  honor  20 
to  its  solution.    I  had  rather  see  my  people  render  back  this 
question  rightly  solved  than  to  see  them  gather  all  the  spoils 
over  which  faction  has  contended  since  Catiline  conspired  and 
Caesar  fought. 

25.  Meantime  we  treat  the  negro  fairly,  measuring  to  him  25 
justice  in  the  fullness  the,  strong  should  give  to  the  weak,  and 
leading  him  in  the  steadfast  ways  of  citizenship  that  he  may 
no  longer  be  the  prey  of  the  unscrupulous  and  the  sport  of 
the  thoughtless.    We  open  to  him  every  pursuit  in  which  he 
can  prosper,  and  seek  to  broaden  his  training  and  capacity.  30 
We  seek  to  hold  his  confidence  and  friendship,  and  to  pin 
him  to  the  soil  with  ownership,  that  he  may  catch  in  the  fire 

of  his  own  hearthstone  that  sense  of  responsibility  the  shiftless 
can  never  know.    And  we   gather   him  into  that  alliance  of 


230        THE   RACE    PROBLEM   IN   THE   SOUTH 

intelligence  and  responsibility  that,  though  it  now  runs  close 
to  racial  lines,  welcomes  the  responsible  and  intelligent  of  any 
race.  By  this  course,  confirmed  in  our  judgment  and  justified 
in  the  progress  already  made,  we  hope  to  progress  slowly  but 
5  surely  to  the  end. 

26.  The  love  we  feel  for  that  race  you  cannot  measure  nor 
comprehend.  As  I  attest  it  here,  the  spirit  of  my  old  black 
mammy  from  her  home  up  there  looks  down  to  bless,  and 
through  the  tumult  of  this  night  steals  the  sweet  music  of  her 

10  croonings  as  thirty  years  ago  she  held  me  in  her  black  arms 
and  led  me  smiling  into  sleep.  This  scene  vanishes  as  I  speak, 
and  I  catch  a  vision  of  an  old  Southern  home,  with  its  lofty 
pillars,  and  its  white  pigeons  fluttering  down  through  the 
golden  air.  I  see  women  with  strained  and  anxious  faces  and 

15  children  alert  yet  helpless.  I  see  night  come  down  with  its 
dangers  and  its  apprehensions,  and  in  a  big  homely  room  I 
feel  on  my  tired  head  the  touch  of  loving  hands  —  now  worn 
and  wrinkled,  but  fairer  to  me  yet  than  the  hands  of  mortal 
woman,  and  stronger  yet  to  lead  me  than  the  hands  of  mortal 

20  man  —  as  they  lay  a  mother's  blessing  there  while  at  her 
knees,  the  truest  altar  I  yet  have  found,  I  thank  God  that  she 
is  safe  in  her  sanctuary,  because  her  slaves,  sentinel  in  the 
silent  cabin  or  guard  at  her  chamber  door,  put  a  black  man's 
loyalty  between  her  and  danger. 

25  27.  I  catch  another  vision.  The  crisis  of  battle  —  a  soldier 
struck,  staggering,  fallen.  I  see  a  slave,  scuffling  through  the 
smoke,  winding  his  black  arms  about  the  fallen  form,  reckless 
of  the  hurtling  death,  bending  his  trusty  face  to  catch  the 
words  that  tremble  on  the  stricken  lips,  so  wrestling  meantime 

30  with  agony  that  he  would  lay  down  his  life  in  his  master's 
stead.  I  see  him  by  the  weary  bedside,  ministering  with  un 
complaining  patience,  praying  with  all  his  humble  heart  that 
God  will  lift  his  master  up,  until  death  comes  in  mercy  and 
in  honor  to  still  the  soldier's  agony  and  seal  the  soldier's  life. 


GRADY  231 

I  see  him  by  the  open  grave,  mute,  motionless,  uncovered, 
suffering  for  the  death  of  him  who  in  life  fought  against  his 
freedom.  I  see  him  when  the  mound  is  heaped  and  the  great 
drama  of  that  life  is  closed,  turn  away  and  with  downcast  eyes 
and  uncertain  step  start  out  into  new  and  strange  fields,  falter-  5 
ing,  struggling,  but  moving  on,  until  his  shambling  figure  is 
lost  in  the  light  of  this  better  and  brighter  day.  And  from  the 
grave  comes  a  voice  saying  :  "  Follow  him  !  Put  your  arms 
about  him  in  his  need,  even  as  he  put  his  about  me.  Be  his 
friend  as  he  was  mine."  And  out  into  this  new  world  —  strange  10 
to  me  as  to  him,  dazzling,  bewildering  both  —  I  follow  !  And 
may  God  forget  my  people  when  they  forget  him. 

28.  Whatever  the  future  may  hold  for  them,  —  whether  they 
plod  along  in  the  servitude  from  which  they  have  never  been 
lifted  since  the  Cyrenian  was  laid  hold  upon  by  the  Roman  15 
soldiers  and  made  to  bear  the  cross  of  the  fainting  Christ; 
whether  they  find  homes  again  in  Africa,  and  thus  hasten  the 
prophecy  of  the  psalmist  who  said,  "And  suddenly  Ethiopia 
shall  hold  out  her  hands  unto  God  " ;  whether,  forever  dis 
located  and  separated,  they  remain  a  weak  people  beset  by  20 
stronger,  and  exist  as  the  Turk,  who  lives  in  the  jealousy  rather 
than  in  the  conscience  of  Europe ;  or  whether  in  this  miracu 
lous  Republic  they  break  through  the  caste  of  twenty  centuries 
and,  belying  universal  history,  reach  the  full  stature  of  citi 
zenship,  and  in  peace  maintain  it,  —  we  shall  give  them  utter-  25 
most  justice  and  abiding  friendship.    And  whatever  we  do,  into 
whatever   seeming   estrangement  we  may  be  driven,  nothing 
shall  disturb  the  love  we  bear  this  Republic,  or  mitigate  our 
consecration  to  its  service. 

29.  I  stand  here,  Mr.  President,  to  profess  no  new  loyalty.  30 
When  General  Lee,  whose  heart  was  the  temple  of  our  hopes 
and  whose  arm  was  clothed  with  our  strength,  renewed  his 
allegiance  to  the  government  at  Appomattox,  he  spoke  from  a 
heart  too  great  to  be  false,  and  he  spoke  for  every  honest  man 


232        THE   RACE   PROBLEM    IN   THE   SOUTH 

from  Maryland  to  Texas.  From  that  day  to  this,  Hamilcar  has 
nowhere  in  the  South  sworn  young  Hannibal  to  hatred  and 
vengeance,  but  everywhere  to  loyalty  and  to  love.  Witness 
the  soldier  standing  at  the  base  of  a  Confederate  monument 
5  above  the  graves  of  his  comrades,  his  empty  sleeve  tossing  in 
the  April  wind,  adjuring  the  young  men  about  him  to  serve  as 
honest  and  loyal  citizens  the  government  against  which  their 
fathers  fought.  This  message,  delivered  from  that  sacred  pres 
ence,  has  gone  home  to  the  hearts  of  my  fellows  !  And,  sir,  I 

10  declare  here,  if  physical  courage  be  always  equal  to  human 
aspiration,  that  they  would  die,  Sir,  if  need  be,  to  restore  this 
Republic  their  fathers  fought  to  dissolve  ! 

30.  Such,  Mr.  President,  is  this  problem  as  we  see  it ;  such 
is  the  temper  in  which  we  approach   it;    such   the   progress 

15  made.  What  do  we  ask  of  you?  First,  patience;  out  of  this 
alone  can  come  perfect  work.  Second,  confidence ;  in  this 
alone  can  you  judge  fairly.  Third,  sympathy ;  in  this  you  can 
help  us  best.  Fourth,  give  us  your  sons  as  hostages.  When 
you .  plant  your  capital  in  millions,  send  your  sons  that  they 

20  may  help  know  how  true  are  our  hearts  and  may  help  swell 
the  Anglo-Saxon  current  until  it  can  carry  without  danger  this 
black  infusion.  Fifth,  loyalty  to  the  Republic  —  for  there  is 
sectionalism  in  loyalty  as  in  estrangement.  This  hour  little 
needs  the  loyalty  that  is  loyal  to  one  section  and  yet  holds  the 

25  other  in  enduring  suspicion  and  estrangement.  Give  us  the 
broad  and  perfect  loyalty  that  loves  and  trusts  Georgia  alike 
with  Massachusetts — that  knows  no  South,  no  North,  no  East, 
no  West ;  but  endears  with  equal  and  patriotic  love  every  foot 
of  our  soil,  every  state  of  our  Union. 

30  31.  A  mighty  duty,  Sir,  and  a  mighty  inspiration  impels 
every  one  of  us  to-night  to  lose  in  patriotic  consecration 
whatever  estranges,  whatever  divides.  We,  Sir,  are  Americans, 
and  we  fight  for  human  liberty.  The  uplifting  force  of  the 
American  idea  is  under  every  throne  on  earth.  France,  Brazil 


GRADY  233 

—  these  are  our  victories.  To  redeem  the  earth  from  kingcraft 
and  oppression  —  this  is  our  mission.  And  we  shall  not  fail. 
God  has  sown  in  our  soil  the  seed  of  his  millennial  harvest, 
and  he  will  not  lay  the  sickle  to  the  ripening  crop  until  his  full 
and  perfect  day  has  come.  Our  history,  Sir,  has  been  a  con-  5 
stant  and  expanding  miracle  from  Plymouth  Rock  and  James 
town  all  the  way  —  aye,  even  from  the  hour  when,  from  the 
voiceless  and  trackless  ocean,  a  new  world  rose  to  the  sight  of 
the  inspired  sailor.  As  we  approach  the  fourth  centennial  of 
that  stupendous  day,  when  the  old  world  will  come  to  marvel  10 
and  to  learn,  amid  our  gathered  treasures,  let  us  resolve  to 
crown  the  miracles  of  our  past  with  the  spectacle  of  a  Republic 
compact,  united,  indissoluble  in  the  bonds  of  love,  loving  from 
the  lakes  to  the  Gulf,  the  wounds  of  war  healed  in  every  heart 
as  on  every  hill,  serene  and  resplendent  at  the  summit  of  15 
human  achievement  and  earthly  glory,  blazing  out  the  path, 
and  making  clear  the  way  up  which  all  the  nations  of  the  earth 
must  come  in  God's  appointed  time  ! 


THE    PURITAN    AND   THE 
CAVALIER1 

HENRY  WATTERSON 

A  RESPONSE  TO  THE  TOAST,  "  THE  PURITAN  AND  THE  CAVALIER,"  AT 
THE  DINNER  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  SOCIETY,  NEW  YORK  ClTY, 
SATURDAY  EVENING,  DECEMBER  22,  1897. 

INTRODUCTION 

Henry  Watterson,  journalist  and  orator,  was  born  in  Washing 
ton,  District  of  Columbia,  February  16,  1840.  He  was  educated 
by  private  tutors.  In  1 86 1  he  went  to  Nashville,  Tennessee,  and 
edited  the  Republican  Banner.  He  served  on  staff  duty  in  the 
Confederate  army  from  1861  to  1863,  and  later  was  Chief  of  Scouts 
in  General  Johnston's  army.  After  the  war  he  again  edited  the 
Banner.  In  1867  he  went  to  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  founded 
the  Courier- Journal,  which  he  has  made  one  of  the  foremost 
of  American  newspapers.  As  one  of  the  leading  Democrats  of 
the  country,  Mr.  Watterson  successfully  opposed  the  reactionary 
movement  of  the  Southern  extremists  against  the  reconstructive 
amendments  to  the  Constitution,  supported  Horace  Greeley  for 
the  presidency,  and  was  chief  among  the  supporters  of  Samuel 
J.  Tilden.  He  has  represented  Kentucky  in  succeeding  national 
conventions  and  exercised  a  decisive  influence  in  shaping  the 
party  policy.  For  years  he  has  been  an  energetic  and  consist 
ent  free  trader.  At  the  Democratic  National  Convention  of  1892 
he  declined  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions, 
which  subsequently  made  a  report  unsatisfactory  to  the  tariff 
reformers,  and  he  led  a  fight  in  the  convention,  resulting  in  the 

1  From  The  Compromises  of  Life.  Copyright,  1903,  by  Fox,  Duf- 
field  &  Co. 

235 


336         THE    PURITAN   AND   THE   CAVALIER 

adoption,  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  of  a  minority  report  made  by  a 
single  member  of  the  committee.  He  has  steadily  refused  office, 
but  in  1876-1877  accepted  a  seat  in  Congress,  declining  a  reelec 
tion.  He  also  declined,  in  1896,  an  offer  of  the  nomination  for 
president  on  the  National  (gold)  Democratic  ticket. 

Mr.  Watterson  has  published  Oddities  of  Southern  Life  and 
Character  (1892)  ;  History  of  the  Spanish- American  War (1898) ; 
and  Compromises  of  Life  (1903).  The  latter  book,  from  which 
the  speech  in  this  volume  is  taken,  is  a  compilation  of  his  lectures 
and  speeches. 

Through  all  of  Mr.  Watterson's  writing  and  speaking  one  domi 
nant  theme  will  be  found,  —  the  national  destiny  and  .the  homoge 
neity  of  the  people.  To  Northern  politicians  he  has  set  a  good 
example  in  charity  and  tolerance.  Like  Grady,  in  both  his  edi 
torial  and  platform  utterances  he  has  effectively  represented  the 
policy  of  conciliation  between  the  North  and  South.  The  homo 
geneity  of  the  American  people,  based  on  the  text,  "  Blessed  be 
tolerance,"  is  humorously  shown  in  the  following  speech.  Upon 
the  occasion  of  its  delivery,  Honorable  Elihu  Root,  president  of 
the  New  England  Society,  introduced  Mr.  Watterson  in  the  fol 
lowing  words : 

"  Gentlemen,  we  are  forced  to  recognize  the  truth  of  the  ob 
servation  that  all  the  people  of  New  England  are  not  Puritans; 
we  must  admit  an  occasional  exception.  It  is  equally  true,  I  am 
told,  that  all  the  people  of  the  South  are  not  Cavaliers ;  but  there  is 
one  Cavalier  without  fear  and  without  reproach,  the  splendid  cour 
age  of  whose  convictions  shows  how  close  together  the  highest 
examples  of  different  types  can  be  among  godlike  men,  —  a  Cava 
lier  of  the  South,  of  Southern  blood  and  Southern  life,  who  carries 
in  thought  and  in  deed  all  the  serious  purpose  and  disinterested 
action  that  characterized  the  Pilgrim  fathers  whom  we  commem 
orate.  He  comes  from  an  impressionist  state  where  the  grass  is 
blue,  where  the  men  are  either  all  white  or  all  black,  and  where, 
we  are  told,  quite  often  the  settlements  are  painted  red.  He  is 
a  soldier,  a  statesman,  a  scholar,  and  above  all,  a  lover;  and 
among  all  the  world  which  loves  a  lover,  the  descendants  of 
those  who,  generation  after  generation,  with  tears  and  laughter, 
have  sympathized  with  John  Alden  and  Priscilla,  cannot  fail  to 
open  their  hearts  in  sympathy  to  Henry  Watterson  and  his  star- 
eyed  goddess." 


WATTERSON  237 

1 .  Eleven  years  ago  to-night,  there  stood  where  1  am  stand 
ing  now  a  young  Georgian,  who,  not  without  reason,  recog 
nized  the  "  significance  "  of  his  presence  here,  —  "  the  first 
Southerner  to  speak  at  this  board  "  (a  circumstance,  let  me 
add,  not  very  creditable  to  any  of  us)  —  and  who,  in  words    5 
whose  eloquence  I  cannot  hope  to  recall,  appealed  from  the 
New  South  to  New  England  for  a  united  country.    He  was 
my  disciple,  my  protege,  my  friend.  He  came  to  me  from  the 
Southern  schools,  where  he  had  perused  the  arts  of  oratory 
and  letters,  to  get  a  few  lessons  in  journalism,  as  he  said ;  10 
needing  so  few,  indeed,  that,  but  a  little  later,  I  sent  him  to 
one  of  the  foremost  journalists  of  this  foremost  city,  bearing  a 
letter  of  introduction,  which  described  him  as  "the  greatest 
boy  ever  born  in  Dixie,  or  anywhere  else."    He  is  gone  now. 
But,  short  as  his  life  was,  its  heaven-born  mission  was  ful-  15 
filled ;  the  dream  of  its  childhood  was  realized ;  for  he  had 
been  appointed  by  God  to  carry  a  message  of  peace  on  earth, 
good  will  to  men,  and,  this  done,  he  vanished  from  the  sight 

of  mortal  eyes,  even  as  the  dove  from  the  ark. 

2.  I  mean  to  take  up  the  word  where  Grady  left  it  off;  but  20 
I  shall  continue  the  sentence  with  a  somewhat  larger  confi 
dence,  and  perhaps  with  a   somewhat   fuller   meaning;    be 
cause,  notwithstanding  the  Puritan  trappings,  traditions,  and 
associations  which  surround  me  — visible  illustrations  of  the 
self-denying  fortitude  of  the  Puritan  character  and  the  somber  25 
simplicity  of  the  Puritan  taste  and  habit  —  I  never  felt  less 
out  of  place  in  all  my  life. 

3.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  afraid  that  I  have  gained 
access  here  on  false  pretenses ;  for  I  am  no  Cavalier  at  all ; 
just  plain  Scotch-Irish ;  one  of  those  Scotch-Irish  Southerners  30 
who  ate  no  fire  in  the  green  leaf  and  has  eaten  no  dirt  in  the 
brown,  and  who,  accepting  for  the  moment  the  terms  Puritan 
and  Cavalier  in  the  sense  an  effete  sectionalism  once  sought 

to  ascribe  to  them,  —  descriptive  labels  at  once  classifying  and 


238         THE   PURITAN  AND  THE  CAVALIER 

separating  North  and  South,  verbal  redoubts  along  that  myth 
ical  line  called  Mason  and  Dixon,  over  which  there  were  sup* 
posed  by  the  extremists  of  other  days  to  be  no  bridges,— I 
am  much  disposed  to  say,  "  A  plague  o'  both  your  houses  !  " 
5  4.  Each  was  good  enough  and  bad  enough,  in  its  way,  while 
they  lasted ;  each  in  its  turn  filled  the  English-speaking  world 
with  mourning;  and  each,  if  either  could  have  resisted  the 
infection  of  the  soil  and  climate  they  found  here,  would  be 
to-day  striving  at  the  sword's  point  to  square  life  by  the  iron 

10  rule  of  theocracy,  or  to  round  it  by  the  dizzy  whirl  of  a  petti 
coat  !  It  is  very  pretty  to  read  about  the  May  pole  In  Vir 
ginia,  and  very  edifying  and  inspiring  to  celebrate  the  deeds  of 
the  Pilgrim  fathers.  But  there  is  not  Cavalier  blood  enough 
left  in  the  Old  Dominion  to  produce  a  single  crop  of  first 

15  families,  while,  out  in  Nebraska  and  Iowa,  they  claim  that 
they  have  so  stripped  New  England  of  her  Puritan  stock  as  to 
spare  her  hardly  enough  for  farm  hands.  This  I  do  know, 
from  personal  experience,  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  stranger- 
guest,  sitting  beneath  a  bower  of  roses  in  the  Palmetto  Club 

20  at  Charleston,  or  by  a  mimic  log-heap  in  the  Algonquin  Club 
at  Boston,  to  tell  the  assembled  company  apart,  particularly 
after  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  !  Why,  in  that  great,  final 
struggle  between  the  Puritans  and.  the  Cavaliers  —  which  we 
still  hear  sometimes  casually  mentioned,  although  it  ended 

25  nearly  thirty  years  ago  — there  had  been  such  a  mixing  up  of 
Puritan  babies  and  Cavalier  babies  during  the  two  or  three 
generations  preceding  it  that  the  surviving  grandmothers  of 
the  combatants  could  not,  except  for  their  uniforms,  have 
picked  out  their  own  on  any  field  of  battle  ! 

30  5.  Turning  to  the  Cyclopcsdia  of  American  Biography,  I 
find  that  Webster  had  all  the  vices  that  are  supposed  to  have 
signalized  the  Cavalier,  and  Calhoun  all  the  virtues  that  are 
claimed  for  the  Puritan.  During  twenty  years  three  statesmen 
of  Puritan  origin  were  the  chosen  party  leaders  of  Cavalier 


WATTERSON  239 

Mississippi :  Robert  J.  Walker,  born  and  reared  in  Pennsyl 
vania  ;  John  A.  Quitman,  born  and  reared  in  New  York,  and 
Sargent  S.  Prentiss,  bom  and  reared  in  the  good  old  State  of 
Maine.  That  sturdy  Puritan,  John  Slidell,  never  saw  Louisiana 
until  he  was  old  enough  to  vote  and  to  fight :  native  here,  —  5 
an  alumnus  of  Columbia  College,  —  but  sprung  from  New 
England  ancestors.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  the  most  resplen 
dent  of  modern  Cavaliers,  —  from  tip  to  toe  a  type  of  the 
species,  the  very  rose  and  expectancy  of  the  young  Con 
federacy,  — did  not  have  a  drop  of  Southern  blood  in  his  veins ;  10 
Yankee  on  both  sides  of  the  house,  though  born  in  Kentucky 
a  little  while  after  his  father  and  mother  arrived  there  from 
Connecticut.  The  ambassador  who  serves  our  government 
near  the  French  Republic  was  a  gallant  Confederate  soldier 
and  is  a  representative  Southern  statesman ;  but  he  owns  the  1 5 
estate  in  Massachusetts  where  his  father  was  born,  and  where 
his  father's  fathers  lived  through  many  generations. 

6.  And  the  Cavaliers,  who  missed  their  stirrups,  somehow, 
and  got  into  Yankee  saddles?    The  woods  were  full  of  them. 

If  Custer  was  not  a  Cavalier,  Rupert  was  a  Puritan.    And  20 
Sherwood  and  Wadsworth  and  Kearny,  and  McPherson,  and 
their  dashing  companions    and  followers  !    The   one   typical 
Puritan  soldier  of  the  war  —  mark  you  !  —  was  a  Southern,  and 
not  a  Northern,  soldier :   Stonewall  Jackson,  of  the  Virginia 
line.    And,  if  we  should  care  to  pursue  the  subject  further  25 
back,    what   about    Ethan   Allen   and    John   Stark   and   Mad 
Anthony  Wayne,  Cavaliers  each  and  every  one  !    Indeed,  from 
Israel  Putnam  to  Buffalo  Bill,  it  seems  to  me  the  Puritans  have 
had  rather  the  best  of  it  in  turning  out  Cavaliers.  So  the  least 
said  about  the  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier  —  except  as  blessed  30 
memories  or  horrid  examples  —  the  better  for  historic  accuracy. 

7.  If  you  wish  to  get  at  the  bottom  facts,  I  don't  mind  telling 
you,  in  confidence,  that  it  was  we  Scotch- Irish  who  vanquished 
both  of  you — some  of  us  in  peace,  others  of  us  in  war ;  supplying 


240         THE   PURITAN   AND   THE   CAVALIER 

the  missing  link  of  adaptability,  the  needed  ingredient  of 
common  sense,  the  conservative  principle  of  creed  and  action, 
to  which  this  generation  of  Americans  owes  its  intellectual  and 
moral  emancipation  from  frivolity  and  pharisaism,  its  rescue  from 
5  the  Scarlet  Woman  and  the  mailed  hand,  and  its  crystalliza 
tion  into  a  national  character  and  polity,  ruling  by  force  of 
brains  and  not  by  force  of  arms. 

8.  Gentlemen  —  Sir  —  I,  too,  have  been  to  Boston.  Strange 
as  the  admission  may  seem,  it  is  true;  and  I  live  to  tell  the 

10  tale.  I  have  been  to  Boston  ;  and,  when  I  declare  that  I  found 
there  many  things  that  suggested  the  Cavalier  and  did  not  sug 
gest  the  Puritan,  I  shall  not  say  I  was  sorry.  But,  among  other 
things,  I  found  there  a  civilization  perfect  in  its  union  of  the 
art  of  living  with  the  grace  of  life;  an  Americanism  ideal  in  its 

15  simple  strength.  Grady  told  us,  and  told  us  truly,  of  that  typ 
ical  American,  who,  in  Dr.  Talmage's  mind's  eye,  was  coming, 
but  who,  in  Abraham  Lincoln's  actuality,  had  already  come.  In 
some  recent  studies  into  the  career  of  that  great  man,  I  have 
encountered  many  startling  confirmations  of  this  judgment ; 

20  and  from  that  rugged  trunk,  drawing  its  sustenance  from  gnarled 
roots,  interlocked  with  Cavalier  sprays  and  Puritan  branches 
deep  beneath  the  soil,  shall  spring,  is  springing,  a  shapely  tree  — 
symmetric  in  all  its  parts  —  under  whose  sheltering  boughs  this 
nation  shall  have  the  new  birth  of  freedom  Lincoln  promised  it, 

25  and  mankind  the  refuge  which  was  sought  by  the  forefathers 
when  they  fled  from  oppression.  Thank  God,  the  ax,  the  gib 
bet,  and  the  stake  have  had  their  day.  They  have  gone,  let 
us  hope,  to  keep  company  with  the  lost  arts.  It  has  been 
demonstrated  that  great  wrongs  may  be  redressed  and  great 

30  reforms  be  achieved  without  the  shedding  of  one  drop  of  human 
blood ;  that  vengeance  does  not  purify,  but  brutalizes ;  and 
that  tolerance,  which  in  private  transactions  is  reckoned  a 
virtue,  becomes  in  public  affairs  a  dogma  of  the  most  far-see 
ing  statesmanship.  Else  how  could  this  noble  city  have  been 

35  redeemed  from  bondage?    It  was  held  like  a  castle  of  the 


WATTERSON 


241 


Middle  Ages  by  robber  barons  who  levied  tribute  right  and 
left.  Yet  have  the  mounds  and  dikes  of  corruption  been 
carried — from  buttress  to  bell  tower  the  walls  of  crime  have 
fallen  —  without  a  shot  out  of  a  gun,  and  still  no  fires  of  Smith- 
field  to  light  the  pathway  of  the  victor,  no  bloody  assizes  to  5 
vindicate  the  justice  of  the  cause ;  nor  need  of  any. 

9.  So  I  appeal  from  the  men  in  silken  hose  who  danced  to 
music  made  by  slaves  and  called  it  freedom,  from  the  men  in 
bell-crowned  hats  who  led  Hester  Prynne  to  her  shame  and 
called  it  religion,  to  that  Americanism  which  reaches  forth  10 
its  arms  to  smite  wrong  with  reason  and  truth,  secure  in  the 
power  of  both.  I  appeal  from  the  patriarchs  of  New  England 
to  the  poets  of  New  England ;  from  Endicott  to  Lowell ;  from 
Winthrop  to  Longfellow  ;  from  Norton  to  Holmes ;  and  I  appeal 
in  the  name  and  by  the  rights  of  that  common  citizenship  —  of  1 5 
that  common  origin,  back  both  of  the  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier, 
to  which  all  of  us  owe  our  being.  Let  the  dead  past,  conse 
crated  by  the  blood  of  its  martyrs,  not  by  its  savage  hatreds, 
darkened  alike  by  kingcraft  and  priestcraft  —  let  the  dead  past 
bury  its  dead.  Let  the  present  and  the  future  ring  with  the  20 
song  of  the  singers.  Blessed  be  the  lessons  they  teach,  the  laws 
they  make.  Blessed  be  the  eye  to  see,  the  light  to  reveal.  Blessed 
be  tolerance,  sitting  ever  on  the  right  hand  of  God  to  guide 
the  way  with  loving  word,  as  blessed  be  all  that  brings  us  nearer 
the  goal  of  true  religion,  true  republicanism,  and  true  patriot-  25 
ism,  distrust  of  watchwords  and  labels,  shams  and  heroes,  belief 
in  our  country  and  ourselves.  It  was  not  Cotton  Mather,  but 
John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  who  cried  : 

Dear  God  and  Father  of  us  all, 

Forgive  our  faith  in  cruel  lies,  30 

Forgive  the  blindness  that  denies. 

Cast  down  our  idols  —  overturn 
Our  bloody  altars  —  make  us  see 
Thyself  in  Thy  humanity ! 


EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

JOHN  WARWICK  DANIEL 

AN  ORATION  DELIVERED  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  RECUMBENT 
FIGURE  OF  GENERAL  LEE,  AT  WASHINGTON  AND  LEE  UNIVER 
SITY,  LEXINGTON,  VIRGINIA,  JUNE  28,  1883. 

INTRODUCTION 

John  Warwick  Daniel,  lawyer,  politician,  and  orator,  was  born  in 
Lynchburg,  Virginia,  in  1 842,  and  has  since  made  that  city  his  home. 
He  fought  on  the  Confederate  side  in  the  Civil  War,  and  rose  to 
the  rank  of  colonel.  After  the  war  he  studied  law,  and  soon  be 
came  active  in  politics.  He  was  for  some  time  a  member  of  the 
state  legislature,  and  since  1885  has  been  United  States  Senator 
from  Virginia. 

Mr.  Daniel  has  long  enjoyed  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  lead 
ing  speakers  in  his  section,  and  in  the  Senate  and  in  Democratic 
national  conventions  his  oratorical  talents  have  commanded  a 
wider  hearing.  Both  he  and  Mr.  Cockran  have  gained  attention 
by  crossing  swords  with  Mr.  Bryan  in  Democratic  nominating 
conventions. 

Mr.  Daniel's  style,  judged  by  the  oration  that  follows,  is  some 
what  florid,  but  perhaps  this  is  in  part  explained  by  the  subject  and 
the  occasion.  The  occasion,  which  was  the  unveiling  of  a  statue  of 
Robert  E.  Lee,  brought  together  an  audience  of  about  ten  thousand 
people,  including  a  large  number  of  ex-Confederates,  all  in  thorough 
sympathy  with  the  speaker.  An  ex-Confederate  himself,  Mr.  Daniel 
was  deeply  moved  by  emotions  of  loyalty  and  love  —  emotions 
which  found  a  ready  response  in  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  The 
official  report  of  the  proceedings  states  that  "  Major  Daniel  for 
three  hours  held  his  audience  by  the  spell  of  his  eloquence,  mov 
ing  it  now  to  applause,  and  now  to  tears."' 

343 


244       EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

i.  MR.  PRESIDENT,  MY  COMRADES,  AND  COUNTRYMEN  :  There 
was  no  happier  or  lovelier  home  than  that  of  Colonel  Robert 
Edward  Lee  in  the  spring  of  1861,  when  for  the  first  time  its 
threshold  was  darkened  with  the  omens  of  civil  war. 
5  2.  Crowning  the  green  slopes  of  the  Virginia  hills  that  over 
look  the  Potomac,  and  embowered  in  stately  trees,  stood  the 
venerable  mansion  of  Arlington,  facing  a  prospect  of  varied 
and  imposing  beauty.  Its  broad  porch  and  widespread ,  wings 
held  out  open  arms,  as  it  were,  to  welcome  the  coming  guest. 

10  Its  simple  Doric  columns  graced  domestic  comfort  with  a 
classic  air.  Its  halls  and  chambers  were  adorned  with  the  por 
traits  of  patriots  and  heroes,  and  with  illustrations  and  relics 
of  the  great  Revolution,  and  of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 
And  within  and  without,  history  and  tradition  seemed  to 

15  breathe  their  legends  upon  a  canvas  as  soft  as  a  dream  of 
peace. 

3.  The  noble  river,  which  in  its  history,  as  well  as  in  its  name, 
carries  us  back  to  the  days  when  the  red  man  trod  its  banks, 
sweeps  in  full  and  even  flow  along  the  forefront  of  the  land- 

20  scape ;  while  beyond  its  waters  stretch  the  splendid  avenues 
and  rise  the  gleaming  spires  of  Washington ;  and  over  all,  the 
great  white  dome  of  the  National  Capitol  looms  up  against  the 
eastern  sky,  like  a  glory  in  the  air. 

4.  Southward  and  westward,  toward  the  blue  rim  of  the  Alle- 
25  ghenies,  roll  away  the  pine  and  oak  clad  hills,  and  the  fields  of 

the  "Old  Dominion,"  dotted  here  and  there  with  the  homes  of 
a  people  of  simple  tastes  and  upright  minds,  renowned  for 
their  devotion  to  their  native  land,  and  for  their  fierce  love  of 
liberty ;  a  people  who  had  drunk  into  their  souls  with  their 
30  mother's  milk,  that  man  is  of  right,  and  ought  to  be,  free. 

5 .  Oil  the  one  hand  there  was  impressed  upon  the  most  casual 
eye  that  contemplated  the  pleasing  prospect,  the  munificence 
and  grandeur  of  American  progress,  the  arts  of  industry  and 
commerce,  and  the  symbols  of  power.    On  the  other  hand, 


DANIEL  245 

Nature  seemed  to  woo  the  heart  back  to  her  sacred  haunts, 
with  vistas  of  sparkling  waters,  and  verdant  pastures,  and 
many  a  wildwood  scene  ;  and  to  penetrate  its  deepest  recesses 
with  the  halcyon  charm  that  ever  lingers  about  the  thought 
of  Home.  S 

6.  The  head  of  the  house  established  here  was  a  man  whom 
Nature  had  richly  endowed  with  graces  of  person,  and  high 
qualities  of  head  and   heart.    Fame   had   already  bound  his 
brow  with  her  laurel,  and  Fortune  had  poured  into  his  lap  her 
golden  horn.    Himself  a  soldier,  and  colonel  in  the  army  of  10 
the  United  States,  the   son  of  the  renowned  "  Light  Horse 
Harry  Lee,"  who  was  the  devoted  friend  and  compatriot  of 
Washington  in   the  Revolutionary  struggle,  and   whose  mem 
orable  eulogy  upon  his  august  chief  has  become  his  epitaph ; 
descended  indeed  from  a  long  line  of  illustrious  progenitors,  15 
whose  names  are  written  on   the   brightest  scrolls  of  English 
and  American  history,  from  the  conquest  of  the   Norman  at 
Hastings  to  the  triumph  of  the  Continentals  at  Yorktown,  — 
he  had  already  established  his  own  martial  fame  at  Vera  Cruz, 
Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras,  Chembusco,  Molino  del  Key,  Chapul-  20 
tepee,  and  Mexico,  and  had  proved  how  little  he  depended  upon 
any  merit  but  his  own.    Such  was  his  early  distinction,  that 
when  but  a  captain,  the  Cuban  Junta  had  offered  to  make  him 
the  leader  of  their  revolutionary  movement  for  the  independ 
ence  of  Cuba, — a  position  which,  as  an  American  officer,  he  25 
felt  it  his  duty  to  decline.    And  so  deep  was  the  impression 
made  of  his  genius  and  his  valor,  that  General  Scott,  Com 
mander  in  Chief  of  the  army  in  which  he  served,  had  declared 
that  he  "  was  the  best  soldier  he  ever  saw  in  the  field,"  "  the 
greatest  military  genius  in  America";    that   "if  opportunity  30 
offered,  he  would  show  himself  the  foremost   captain  of  his 
times" ;  and  that  "  if  a  great  battle  were  to  be  fought  for  the 
liberty  or  slavery  of  the  country,  his  judgment  was  that  the 
commander  should  be  Robert  Lee." 


246        EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

7.  Wedded  to  her  who  had  been  the  playmate  of  his  boyhood, 
and  who  was  worthy  in  every  relation  to  be  the  companion  of 
his  bosom,  sons  and  daughters  had  risen  up  to  call  them 
blessed,  and  there,  decorated  with  his  country's  honors  and  sur- 

5  rounded  by  "  love,  obedience,  and  troops  of  friends,"  the  host 
of  Arlington  seemed  to  have  filled  the  measure  of  generous 
desire  with  whatever  of  fame  or  happiness  fortune  can  add 
to  virtue.  And  had  the  pilgrim  started  in  quest  of  some  hap 
pier  spot  than  the  Vale  of  Rasselas,  well  might  he  have  paused 
10  by  this  threshold  and  doffed  his  "  sandal  shoon." 

8.  So  situated  was  Colonel  Lee  in  the  spring  of  1 86 1, upon  the 
verge  of  the  momentous  revolution  of  which  he  became  so 
mighty  a  pillar  and  so  glorious  a  chieftain.    But  we  cannot 
estimate  the  struggle  it  cost  him  to  take  up  arms  against  the 

15  Union,  nor  the  sacrifice  he  made,  nor  the  pure  devotion  with 
which  he  consecrated  his  sword  to  his  native  state,  without 
looking  beyond  his  physical  surroundings,  and  following  fur 
ther  the  suggestions  of  his  history  and  character,  for  the  springs 
of  action  which  prompted  his  course.  Colonel  Lee  was  emphat- 

20  ically  a  Union  man ;  and  Virginia,  to  the  crisis  of  dissolution, 
was  a  Union  state.  He  loved  the  Union  with  a  soldier's 
ardent  loyalty  to  the  government  he  served,  and  with  a  patriot's 
faith  and  hope  in  the  institutions  of  his  country.  His  ances 
tors  had  been  among  the  most  distinguished  and  revered  of  its 

25  founders;  his  own  life  from  youth  upward  had  been  spent  and 
his  blood  shed  in  its  service,  and  two  of  his  sons,  following  his 
footsteps,  held  commissions  in  the  army. 

9.  He  was  born  in  the  same  county,  and  descended  from 
the  same  strains  of.  English  blood  from  which  Washington 

30  sprang,  and  was  united  in  marriage  with  Mary  Custis,  the 
daughter  of  his  adopted  son.  He  had  been  reared  in  the 
school  of  simple  manners  and  lofty  thoughts  which  belonged 
to  the  elder  generation;  and  with  Washington  as  his  exem 
plar  of  manhood  and  his  ideal  of  wisdom,  he  reverenced  his 


DANIEL  247 

character  and  fame  and  work  with  a  feeling  as  near  akin  to 
worship  as  any  that  man  can  have  for  aught  that  is  human. 

10.  Unlike  the  statesmen  of  the  hostile  sections,  who  were 
constantly  thrown  into   the    provoking    conflicts  of   political 
debate,  he  had  been  withdrawn  by  his  military  occupations    5 
from  scenes  calculated  to  irritate  or  chill  his  kindly  feelings 
toward  the  people  of  the  North;  and  on  the  contrary  —  in 
camp,  and  field,  and  social  circle  —  he  had  formed  many  ties 

of  friendship  with  its  most  esteemed  soldiers  and  citizens. 
With  the  reticence  becoming  his  military  office,  he  had  taken  10 
no  part  in  the  controversies  which  preceded  the  fatal  rupture 
between  the  states — other  than  the  good  man's  part,  to  "speak 
the  soft  answer  that  turns  away  wrath,"  and  to  plead  for  that 
forbearance  and  patience  which  alone  might  bring  about  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  questions  at  issue.  15 

1 1 .  Years  of  his  professional  life  he  had  spent  in  Northern 
communities,  and,  always  a  close  observer  of  men  and  things, 
he  well  understood  the  vast  resources  of  that  section,  and  the 
hardy,  industrious,  and  resolute  character  of  its  people ;  and 
he  justly  weighed  their  strength  as  a  military  power.    When  20 
men  spoke  of  how  easily  the  South  would  repel  invasion  he 
said  :  "  You  forget  that  we  are  all  Americans."    And  when 
they  prophesied  a  battle  and  a  peace,  he  predicted  that  it  would 
take  at  least  four  years  to  fight  out  the  impending  conflict. 
None  was  more  conscious  than  he  that  each  side  undervalued  25 
and   misunderstood   the   other.     He   was,   moreover,  deeply 
imbued  with  the  philosophy  of  history  and   the  course  of  its 
evolutions,  and  well  knew  that  in  an  upheaval  of  government 
deplorable  results  would  follow  which  were  not  thought  of  in 
the  beginning,  or,  if  thought  of,  would  be  disavowed,  belittled  30 
and  deprecated.    And  eminently  conservative  in  his  cast  of 
mind  and  character,  every  bias  of  his  judgment,  as  every  tend 
ency  of  his  history,  filled  him  with  yearning  and  aspiration 
for  the  peace  of  his  country  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union. 


248        EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

Is  it  a  wonder  then,  as  the  storm  of  revolution  lowered,  Colonel 
Lee,  then  with  his  regiment,  the  Second  Cavalry,  in  Texas, 
wrote  thus  to  his  son  in  January,  1861  : 

12.  "The  South,  in  my  opinion,  has  been  aggrieved  by  the 
5  acts  of  the  North  as  you  say.    I  feel  the  aggression,  and  am 

willing  to  take  any  proper  steps  for  redress.  It  is  the  principle 
I  contend  for,  not  individual  or  private  benefit.  As  an  Ameri 
can  citizen,  I  take  great  pride  in  my  country,  her  prosperity 
and  institutions,  and  would  defend  any  state  if  her  rights  were 

10  invaded.  But  I  can  anticipate  no  greater  calamity  for  the  coun 
try  than  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  It  would  be  an  accumu 
lation  of  all  evils  we  complain  of,  and  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice 
everything  but  honor  for  its  preservation.  I  hope,  therefore, 
that  all  constitutional  means  will  be  exhausted  before  there  is 

15  a  resort  to  force.  Secession  is  nothing  but  revolution.  .  .  . 
Still,  a  Union  that  can  only  be  maintained  by  swords  and  bayo 
nets,  and  in  which  strife  and  civil  war  are  to  take  the  place  of 
love  and  kindness,  has  no  charm  for  me.  I  shall  mourn  for 
my  country  and  for  the  welfare  and  progress  of  mankind.  If 

20  the  Union  is  dissolved,  and  the  government  is  disrupted,  I 
shall  return  to  my  native  state  and  share  the  miseries  of  my 
people,  and,  save  in  defense,  will  draw  my  sword  on  none." 

13.  There  was  naught  on  earth  that  could  swerve  Robert 
E.  Lee  from  the  path  where,  to  his  clear  comprehension,  honor 

25  and  duty  lay.  To  the  statesman,  Mr.  Francis  Preston  Blair, 
who  brought  him  the  tender  of  supreme  command  of  the  Union 
forces,  he  answered  :  "  Mr.  Blair,  I  look  upon  secession  as  an 
archy.  If  I  owned  the  four  millions  of  slaves  in  the  South,  I 
would  sacrifice  them  all  to  the  Union.  But  how  can  I  draw 

30  my  sword  against  Virginia?  " 

14.  Draw  his  sword  against  Virginia?    Perish  the  thought ! 
Over  all  the  voices  that  called  him  he  heard  the  still  small 
voice  that  ever  whispers  to  the  soul  of  the  spot  that  gave  it 


DANIEL  249 

birth,  and  over  every  ambitious  dream  there  rose  the  face  of 
the  angel  that  guards  the  door  of  home. 

15.  On  the  twentieth  of  April,  as  soon  as  the  news  of  Vir 
ginia's  secession  reached  him,  he  resigned  his  commission  in 
the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  thus  wrote  to  his  sister  who    5 
remained  with  her  husband  on  the  Union  side  :   "  With  all  my 
devotion  to  the  Union,  and  the  feeling  of  loyalty  and  duty  of 
an  American  citizen,  I  have  not  been  able  to  make  up  my 
mind  to  raise  my  hand  against  my  relatives,  my  children,  my 
home.     I  have  therefore  resigned  my  commission  in  the  army,  10 
and  save  in  the  defense  of  my  native  state  (with  the  sincere 
hope  that  my  poor  services  may  never  be  needed)  I  hope  I 
may  never  be  called  upon  to  draw  my  sword." 

1 6.  Bidding  an  affectionate  adieu  to  his  old  friend  and  com 
mander,  General  Scott,  who  mourned  his  loss,  but  nobly  ex-  15 
pressed  his  confidence  in  his  motives,  he  repaired  to  Richmond. 
Governor  John   Letcher   immediately  appointed   him  to  the 
commander  in  chief  of  the  Virginia  forces,  and  the  Convention 
unanimously  confirmed  the  nomination.  Memorable  and  impres 
sive  was  the  scene  when  he  came  into  the  presence  of  that  body  20 
on  April  23d.    Its  venerable  president,  John  Janney,  with  brief, 
sententious  eloquence,  addressed  him,  and  concluded  saying : 

17.  "Sir,  we  have  by  this  unanimous  vote  expressed  our 
convictions  that  you  are  at  this  day,  among  the  living  citizens 

of  Virginia, '  first  in  war.'    We  pray  to  God  most  fervently  that  25 
you  may  so  conduct  the  operations  committed  to  your  charge, 
that  it  may  be  said  of  you  that  you  are  '  first  in  peace,'  and 
when  that  time  comes,  you  will  have  earned  the  still  prouder 
distinction  of  being  '  first  in  the  hearts  of  your  countrymen.' 
Yesterday  your  mother,  Virginia,  placed  her  sword  in   your  30 
hand  upon  the  implied  condition  that  we  know  you  will  keep 
in  letter  and  in  spirit :   that  you  will  draw  it  only  in  defense, 
and  that  you  will  fall  with  it  in  your  hand  rather  than  the 
object  for  which  it  was  placed  there  should  fail." 


250        EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

18.  General   Lee   thus    answered:   "Profoundly  impressed 
with  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  for  which  I  must  say  I  was 
not  prepared,  I  accept  the  position  assigned  me  by  your  par 
tiality.    I  would  have  preferred  had  your  choice  fallen  upon 

5  an  abler  man.  Trusting  in  Almighty  God,  an  approving  con 
science,  and  the  aid  of  my  fellow-citizens,  I  devote  myself  to 
the  service  of  my  native  state,  in  whose  behalf  alone  will  I 
ever  again  draw  my  sword." 

19.  Thus  came  Robert  E.  Lee  to  the  state  of  his  birth  and 
10  to  the  people  of  his  blood  in  their  hour  of  need  !    Thus,  with 

as  chaste  a  heart  as  ever '  plighted  its  faith  until  death,  for 
better  or  for  worse,  he  came  to  do,  to  suffer,  and  to  die  for  us 
who  to-day  are  gathered  in  awful  reverence  and  in  sorrow  un 
speakable  to  weep  our  blessings  upon  his  tomb. 
15       20.  I  pause  not  here  to  defend  the  course  of  General  Lee, 
as  that  defense   may  be  drawn    from   the   constitution  of  a 
Republic  which  was  born  in  the  sublime  protest  of  its  people 
against  bayonet  rule,  and  founded  on  the  bed-rock  principle  , 
of  free  government,  that  all  free  governments  "  must  derive 
20  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed."    I  pause 
not  to  trace  the  history  or  define  the  grounds  of  that  theory 
of  constitutional  construction  which  maintained  the  right  of 
secession  from  the  Union  as  an  element  of  sovereign  statehood 
-  a  theory  which  has  found  ablest  and  noblest  advocacy  in 
25  every  section  of  the  country.    The  tribunal  is  not  yet  formed 
that  would  hearken  to  such  defense,  nor  is  this  the  time  or 
place  to  utter  it.    And  to  my  mind  there  is  for  Lee  and  his 
compatriots  a  loftier  and  truer  vindication  than  any  that  may 
be  deduced  from  codes,  constitutions,  and  conventional  articles 
30  of  government.    A  great  revolution  need  never  apologize  for 
nor  explain  itself.    There  it  is  !  —  the  august  and  thrilling  rise 
of  a  whole  population  !    And  the  fact  that  it  is  there  is  the 
best  evidence  of  its  right  to  be  there.    None  but  great  inspira 
tions  underlie  great  actions.    None  but  great  causes  can  ever 


DANIEL  251 

produce  great  events.  A  transient  gust  of  passion  may  turn  a 
crowd  into  a  mob,  a  temporary  impulse  may  swell  a  mob  into 
a  local  insurrection ;  but  when  a  whole  people  stand  to  their 
guns  before  their  hearthstones,  and  as  one  man  resist  what 
they  deem  aggression ;  when  for  long  years  they  endure  pov-  5 
erty  and  starvation,  and  dare  danger  and  death  to  maintain 
principles  which  they  deem  sacred  ;  when  they  shake  a  conti 
nent  with  their  heroic  endeavors  and  fill  the  world  with  the  glory 
of  their  achievements,  history  can  make  for  them  no  higher  vin 
dication  than  to  point  to  their  deeds  and  say — "  Behold  !"  10 

21.  A  people  is  its  own  judge.    Under  God  there  can  be  no 
higher  judge  for  them  to  seek  or  court  or  fear.    In  the  supreme 
moments  of  national  life,  as  in  the  lives  of  individuals,  the 
actor  must  resolve  and  act  within  himself  alone.    The  Southern 
states  acted  for  themselves,  the  Northern  states  for  themselves,  15 
Virginia  for  herself.     And  when   the   lines  of  battle   formed, 
Robert   Lee   took   his  place   in   the   line  beside    his    people, 
his  kindred,  his  children,  his  home.    Let  his  defense  rest  on 
this  fact  alone.    Nature  speaks  it.    Nothing  can  strengthen  it. 
Nothing  can  weaken  it.    The  historian  may  compile;  the  cas-  20 
uist  may  dissect ;    the  statesman  may   expatiate  ;    the  advo 
cate  may  plead  ;  the  jurist  may  expound ;  but,  after  all,  there 
can  be  no  stronger  or  tenderer  tie  than  that  which  binds  the 
faithful  heart  to  kindred  and  to  home.    And  on  that  tie  — 
stretching  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  spanning  the  heavens,  25 
and  riveted  through  eternity  to  the  throne  of  God  on  high,  and 
underneath  in  the  souls  of  good  men  and  true  —  on  that  tie 
rests,  stainless  and  immortal,  the  fame  of  Robert  Lee. 

[Here   Mr.  Daniel  traced  Lee's  career  during  the   Civil  War, 
and  continued  as  follows.] 

22.  Thus  feebly  and  imperfectly  have  I  attempted  to  trace 
the  military  achievements  and  services  of  him  to  whose  memory  30 
this  day  is  dedicated.    Lee  the  general  stands  abreast  with 


252        EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

the  greatest  captains  of  all  time,  and  Lee  the  patriot  has  uni 
versal  homage.    It  is  now  of  Lee  the  man  that  I  would  speak. 
23.  In  personal  appearance,  General  Lee  was  a  man  whom 
once  to  see  was  ever  to  remember.    His  figure  was  tall,  erect, 

5  well  proportioned,  lithe,  and  graceful.  A  fine  head,  with  broad, 
uplifted  brow,  and  features  boldly  but  yet  delicately  chiseled, 
bore  the  high  aspect  of  one  born  to  command.  The  firm  yet 
mobile  lips  and  the  thickset  jaw  were  expressive  of  daring 
and  resolution ;  and  the  dark  scintillant  eye  flashed  with  the 

10  light  of  a  brilliant  intellect  and  a  fearless  spirit.  His  whole 
countenance,  indeed,  bespoke  alike  a  powerful  mind  and 
indomitable  will,  yet  beamed  with  charity,  gentleness,  and  be 
nevolence.  In  his  manners,  quiet,  reserve,  unaffected  courtesy 
and  native  dignity,  made  manifest  the  character  of  one  who 

15  can  only  be  described  by  the  name  of  gentleman.  And  taken 
all  in  all,  his  presence  possessed  that  grave  and  simple  majesty 
which  commanded  instant  reverence  and  repressed  familiarity; 
and  yet  so  charmed  by  a  certain  modesty  and  gracious  defer 
ence  that  reverence  and  confidence  were  ever  ready  to  kindle 

20  into  affection.  It  was  impossible  to  look  upon  him  and  not  to 
recognize  at  a  glance  that  in  him  Nature  gave  assurance  of  a 
man  created  great  and  good. 

24.  Mounted  in  the  field,  and  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  a 
glimpse  of  Lee  was  an  inspiration.    His  figure  was  as  distinctive 

25  as  that  of  Napoleon.  Ah  !  soldiers  !  who  can  forget  it?  The 
black  slouch  hat,  the  cavalry  boots,  the  dark  cape,  the  plain 
gray  coat  without  an  ornament  but  the  three  stars  on  the  collar, 
the  calm,  victorious  face,  the  splendid,  manly  figure  on  the 
gray  war  horse,  that  steps  as  if  proudly  conscious  of  his  rider, 

3o he  looked  every  inch  the  true  knight,  the  grand,  invincible 

champion  of  a  great  principle. 

25.  At  the  bottom  of  all  true  heroism  is  unselfishness.    Its 
crowning  expression  is  sacrifice.    The  world  is  suspicious  of 


DANIEL  253 

vaunted  heroes.  They  are  so  easily  manufactured.  So  many 
feet  are  cut  and  trimmed  to  fit  Cinderella's  slippers  that  we 
hesitate  long  before  we  hail  the  princess.  But  when  the  true 
hero  has  come,  and  we  know  that  here  he  is,  in  verity,  ah  ! 
how  the  hearts  of  men  leap  forth  to  greet  him  !  how  worship-  5 
fully  we  welcome  God's  noblest  work,  —  the  strong,  honest, 
fearless,  upright  man. 

26.  In  Robert  Lee  was  such  a  hero  vouchsafed  to  us  and 
to  mankind,  and  whether  we  behold  him  declining  command  of 
the  Federal  army  to  fight  the  battles  and  share  the  miseries  of  10 
his  own  people  ;  proclaiming  on  the  heights  in  front  of  Gettys 
burg  that  the  fault  of  the  disaster  was  his  own  ;  leading  charges 

in  the  crisis  of  combat ;  walking  under  the  yoke  of  conquest 
without  a  murmur  of  complaint ;  or  refusing  fortunes  to  come 
here  and  train  the  youth  of  his  country  in  the  path  of  duty,  —  15 
he  is  ever  the  same  meek,  grand,  self-sacrificing  spirit.  Here 
he  exhibited  qualities  not  less  worthy  and  heroic  than  those 
displayed  on  the  broad  and  open  theater  of  conflict,  when  the 
eyes  of  nations  watched  his  every  action.  Here  in  the  calm 
repose  of  civil  and  domestic  duties,  and  in  the  trying  routine  20 
of  incessant  tasks,  he  lived  a  life  as  high  as  when,  day  by  day, 
he  marshaled  and  led  his  thin  and  wasting  lines,  and  slept  by 
night  upon  the  field  that  was  to  be  drenched  again  in  blood 
upon  the  morrow. 

27.  Here  in  these  quiet  walks,  far  removed  from  "war  or  25 
battle's  sound,"  came  into  view,  as  when,  the  storm  o'erpast, 
the  mountain  seems  a  pinnacle  of  light,  the  landscape  beams 
with  fresher  and  tenderer  beauties,  and   the  purple,  golden 
clouds  float  above  us  in  the  azure  depths  like  the  Islands  of 
the  Blest,  so  came  into  view  the  towering  grandeur,  the  massive  30 
splendor,  and  the  loving-kindness  of  the  character  of  General 
Lee,  and  the  very  sorrows  that  overhung  his  life  seemed  lumi 
nous  with  celestial  hues.    Here  he  revealed  in  manifold  gracious 
hospitalities,   tender  charities,  and   patient,   worthy  counsels, 


254        EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

how  deep  and  pure  and  inexhaustible  were  the  fountains  of  his 
virtues.  And  loving  hearts  delight  to  recall,  as  loving  lips  will 
ever  delight  to  tell,  the  thousand  little  things  he  did  which  sent 
forth  lines  of  light  to  irradiate  the  gloom  of  the  conquered  land, 
5  and  to  lift  up  the  hopes  and  cheer  the  works  of  the  people. 

28.  Here,  indeed,  Lee,  no  longer  the  leader,  became,  as  it  were, 
the  priest  of  his  people,  and  the  young  men  of  Washington  Col 
lege  were  but  a  fragment  of  those  who  found  in  his  voice  and  his 
example  the  shining  signs  that  never  misguided  their  footsteps. 

10  29.  Five  years  rolled  by  while  here  "the  self-imposed  mis 
sion"  of  Lee  was  being  accomplished,  and  now,  in  1870,  he 
had  reached  the  age  of  sixty-three.  A  robust  constitution, 
never  abused  by  injurious  habits,  would  doubtless  have  pro 
longed  his  life  beyond  the  threescore  years  and  ten  which  the 

15  psalmist  has  ascribed  as  the  allotted  term  of  man;  but  many 
causes  were  sapping  and  undermining  it.  The  exposures  of 
two  wars  in  which  he  had  participated,  and  the  tremendous 
strain  on  nerves  and  heart  and  brain  which  his  vast  responsibili 
ties  and  his  accumulated  trials  had  entailed,  had  been  silently 

20  and  gradually  doing  their  work ;  and  now  his  step  had  lost 
something  of  its  elasticity,  the  shoulders  began  to  stoop  as  if 
under  a  growing  burden,  and  the  ruddy  glow  of  health  upon 
his  countenance  had  passed  into  a  feverish  flush.  Into  his 
ears,  and  into  his  heart,  had  been  poured  the  afflictions  of  his 

25  people,  and  while  composed  and  self-contained  and  uncom 
plaining,  who  could  have  looked  upon  that  great  face,  over 
whose  majestic  lineaments  there  stole  the  shade  of  sadness, 
without  perceiving  that  grief  for  those  he  loved  was  gnawing 
at  the  heartstrings?  without  perceiving  in  the  brilliant  eye, 

30  which  now  and  then  had  a  far-away,  abstracted  gaze,  that  the 
soul  within  bore  a  sorrow  "  that  only  Heaven  could  heal "? 

30.  And  now  he  has  vanished  from  us  forever.  And  is  this 
all  that  is  left  of  him  —  this  handful  of  dust  beneath  the 


DANIEL  255 

marble  stone  ?  No  !  the  ages  answer  as  they  rise  from  the  gulfs 
of  Time,  where  lie  the  wrecks  of  kingdoms  and  estates,  hold 
ing  up  in  their  hands  as  their  only  trophies,  the  names  of  those 
who  have  wrought  for  man  in  the  love  and  fear  of  God,  and  in 
love  unfearing  for  their  fellow-men.  No  !  the  present  answers,  5 
bending  by  his  tomb.  No  !  the  future  answers,  as  the  breath 
of  the  morning  fans  its  radiant  brow,  and  its  soul  drinks  in 
sweet  inspirations  from  the  lovely  life  of  Lee.  No  !  methinks 
the  very  heavens  echo,  as  melt  into  their  depths  the  words  of 
reverent  love  that  voice  the  hearts  of  men  to  the  tingling  stars.  10 

31.  Come  we  then  to-day  in  loyal  love  to  sanctify  our  mem 
ories,  to  purify  our  hopes,  to  make  strong  all  good  intent 
by  communion  with  the  spirit  of  him  who,  being  dead,  yet 
speaketh.  Come,  child,  in  thy  spotless  innocence ;  come, 
woman,  in  thy  purity  ;  come,  youth,  in  thy  prime  ;  come,  man-  1 5 
hood,  in  thy  strength ;  come,  age,  in  thy  ripe  wisdom ;  come 
citizen,  come  soldier,  let  us  strew  the  roses  and  lilies  of  June 
around  his  tomb,  for  he,  like  them,  exhaled  in  his  life  Nature's 
beneficence,  and  the  grave  has  consecrated  that  life  and  given 
it  to  us  all  ;  let  us  crown  his  tomb  with  the  oak,  the  emblem  20 
of  his  strength,  and  with  the  laurel,  the  emblem  of  his  glory, 
and  let  these  guns,  whose  voices  he  knew  of  old,  awake  the 
echoes  of  the  mountains,  that  Nature  herself  may  join  in  his 
solemn  requiem.  Come,  for  here  he  rests,  and 

On  this  green  bank,  by  this  fair  stream,  25 

We  set  today  a  native  stone, 
That  memory  may  his  deeds  redeem, 

When,  like  our  sires,  our  sons  are  gone. 

Come,  for  here  the  genius  of  loftiest  poesy  in  the  artist's  dream 
and  through  the  sculptor's  touch  has  restored  his  form  and  30 
features  —  a  Valentine  has  lifted  the  marble  veil  and  disclosed 
him  to  us  as  we  would  love  to  look  upon  him  —  lying,  the 
flower  of  knighthood,  in  "  Joyous  Gard."  His  sword  beside 
him  is  sheathed  forever.  But  honor's  seal  is  on  his  brow,  and 


256        EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

valor's  star  is  on  his  breast,  and  the  peace  that  passeth  all 
understanding  descends  upon  him.  Here,  not  in  the  hour  of 
his  grandest  triumph  of  earth,  as  when,  mid  the  battle  roar, 
shouting  battalions  followed  his  trenchant  sword,  and  bleeding 

5  veterans  forgot  their  wounds  to  leap  between  him  and  his 
enemies  —  but  here  in  victory,  supreme  over  earth  itself,  and 
over  death,  its  conqueror,  he  rests,  his  warfare  done. 

32.  And  as  we  seem  to  gaze  once  more  on  him  we  loved 
and  hailed  as  chief,  in  his  sweet,  dreamless  sleep,  the  tranquil 

10  face  is  clothed  with  heaven's  light,  and  the  mute  lips  seem 
eloquent  with  the  message  that  in  life  he  spoke:  "There  is 
a  true  glory  and  a  true  honor ;  the  glory  of  duty  done,  the 
honor  of  the  integrity  of  principle" 


EULOGY  OF  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT 

HORACE  PORTER 

A  SPEECH  DELIVERED  AT  THE  BANQUET  OF  THE  ARMY  OF  THE 
TENNESSEE,  UPON  THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  INAUGURATION  OF 
THE  GRANT  EQUESTRIAN  STATUE,  CHICAGO,  OCTOBER  8,  1891. 

INTRODUCTION 

Horace  Porter,  soldier,  politician,  orator,  and  business  man,  was 
born  at  Huntington,  Pennsylvania,  April  15,  1837.  He  entered 
the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  at  Harvard,  but  left  there  for  West 
Point,  wKefefTie  graduated  in  1860,  standing  third  in  a  class  of 
"more  than  forty.  He  served  in  the  field  throughout  the  entire 
"period  of  the  Civil  War,  passing  through  every  commissioned 
grade  up  to  brigadier  general.  In  the  campaign  around  Chatta 
nooga  he  met  Grant,  who  recognized  his  soldierly  abilities,  and 
brought  him  east  as  an  aid-de-camp.  Throughout  the  Wilder 
ness  campaign,  and  until  the  final  scene  of  the  struggle,  he  was 
Grant's  close  personal  associate  and  trusted  military  aid,  and  was 
brevetted  six  times  for  "gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  action." 
In  1867  he  was  appointed  Assistant  Secretary  of  War  under  Gen 
eral  Grant,  when  the  latter  was  serving  for  a  few  months  in  Presi 
dent  Johnson's  cabinet.  From  1869  to  1877  he  was  President 
Grant's  private  secretary.  For  twenty  years  thereafter  he  devoted 
himself  to  a  business  career,  and  became  president  or  director  of 
several  railway  corporations.  He  has  also  been  prominent  as  presi 
dent  of  the  Union  League  Club,  of  New  York  City,  and  other  clubs 
and  patriotic  societies.  Since  1897  he  has  been  the  United  States 
Minister  to  France. 

From  the  foregoing  it  is  plain  that  General  Porter  is  eminently 
an  "  all-round  man."  He  has  entered  many  fields  and  has  won  the 
highest  success  in  each.  As  a  soldier  he  attained,  as  we  have  seen, 

257 


258  EULOGY  OF   ULYSSES   S.  GRANT 

a  brilliant  military  record.  As  a  man  of  business,  he  has  directed 
the  interests  of  half  a  dozen  great  corporations,  and  is  a  prominent 
officer  of  New  York's  most  influential  mercantile  association,— 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  is  interested  in  science,  and  has 
a  turn  for  mechanical  invention  ;  the  "  chopping  box  "  used  on  the 
elevated  railroads  of  New  York  is  a  patented  apparatus  of  his  own 
devising.  For  public  life  he  has  shown  an  equal  aptitude,  having 
served  this  country  with  distinction  as  Minister  to  France.  He  is 
a  writer,  a  scholar,  and  a  linguist  withal,  familiar  with  the  classics 
and  with  several  modern  languages. 

As  an  orator  for  special  occasions,  and  especially  as  an  after- 
dinner  speaker,  he  has  been  in  constant  demand,  his  popularity  being 
rivaled  by  not  more  than  two  or  three  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 
He  has  appeared  as  the  orator  on  various  notable  occasions 
(mentioned  in  the  notes),  and  always  acquits  himself  most  satis 
factorily.  His  wit  is  unfailing,  his  fertility  as  a  raconteur  appar 
ently  exhaustless.  Direct  and  forcible  in  delivery,  his  quick  turns 
of  thought  and  striking  expressions  hold  the  sustained  attention  of 
his  hearers. 

In  pronouncing  the  following  eulogy,  General  Porter  certainly 
possessed  the  two  elements  necessary  for  any  orator  for  any  occa- 
siorl)  —  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject,  and  sincere  and  strong 
convictions  tand  feelings  regarding  it.  From  the  time  that  Grant 
discovered  Porter  during  the  war,  the  two  maintained  the  closest 
and  most  affectionate  relations  toward  each  other.  Further,  a  feel 
ing  of  generosity  on  General  Porter's  part  was  added  to  that  of 
loyalty.  If  Grant  did  not  make  Porter,  he  aided  powerfully  in 
giving  the  latter  an  opportunity  to  make  himself.  Grant  recom 
mended  him  to  his  friend,  George  M.  Pullman,  president  of  the 
Pullman  Car  Company,  and  it  was  with  this  company  that  General 
Porter  began  a  business  career  whereby  he  acquired  an  independ 
ent  fortune.  And  reciprocal  appreciation  was  shown  by  General 
Porter,  not  alone  during  Grant's  life,  but  also  since  his  death. 
When  the  project  for  the  Grant  Monument,  now  erected  at  River 
side  Park,  New  York  City,  was  in  danger  of  abandonment,  General 
Porter  stepped  to  the  front  and  —  as  in  his  recent  removal  to 
America  of  the  body  of  Paul  Jones  —  by  personal  effort  rescued 
it  from  threatened  failure.  It  was,  like  the  oration  that  follows, 
a  graceful  and  fitting  tribute  to  the  memory  of  his  old  friend  and 
commander. 


PORTER  259 

1.  MR.  CHAIRMAN:  When  a  man  from  the   armies  of  the 
East  finds  himself  in  the  presence  of  men  of  the  armies  of  the 
West,  he  feels  that  he  cannot  strike  their  gait.    He  can  only 
look  at  them  wistfully  and  say,  in  the  words  of  Charles  II,  "I 
always  admired  virtue,  but  I  never  could  imitate  it."    If  I  do    5 
not  in  the  course  of  my  remarks  succeed  in  seeing  each  one 

of  you,  it  will  be  because  the  formation  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee  to-night  is  like  its  formation  in  the  field,  when  it 
won  its  matchless  victories,  the  heavy  columns  in  the  center. 

2.  Almost  all  the   conspicuous   characters   in  history  have  10 
risen  to  prominence  by  gradual  steps,  but  Ulysses  S.  Grant 
seemed   to   come  before   the   people   with  a  sudden  bound. 
Almost  the  first  sight  they  caught  of  him  was  in  the  flashes  of 
his  guns,  and  the  blaze  of  his  camp  fires,  those  wintry  days 
and  nights  in  front  of  Donelson.    From  that  hour  until  the  15 
closing  triumph  at  Appomattox  he  was  the  leader  whose  name 
was  the  harbinger  of  victory.    From  the  final  sheath  of  his 
sword  until  the  tragedy  on  Mount  McGregor  he  was  the  chief 
citizen  of  the  Republic  and  the  great  central  figure  of  the 
world.    The  story  of  his  life  savors  more  of  romance   than  20 
reality.    It  is  more  like  a  fabled  tale  of  ancient  days  than  the 
history  of  an  American  citizen  of  the  nineteenth  century.    As 
light  and  shade  produce  the  most  attractive  effects  in  a  picture, 

so  the  singular  contrasts,  the  strange  vicissitudes  in  his  mar 
velous  career,  surround  him  with  an  interest  which  attaches  25 
to  few  characters  in  history.  His  rise  from  an  obscure  lieuten 
ancy  to  the  command  of  the  veteran  armies  of  the  Republic ; 
his  transition  from  a  frontier  post  of  the  untrodden  West  to 
the  executive  mansion  of  the  nation ;  his  sitting  at  one  time 
in  his  little  store  in  Galena,  not  even  known  to  the  congress-  30 
man  from  his  own  district ;  at  another  time  striding  through 
the  palaces  of  the  Old  World,  with  the  descendants  of  a  line 
of  kings  rising  and  standing  uncovered  in  his  presence  —  these 
are  some  of  the  features  of  his  extraordinary  career  which 


260  EULOGY   OF    ULYSSES    S.  GRANT 

appeal  to  the  imagination,  excite  men's  wonder,  and  fascinate 
all  who  read  the  story  of  his  life. 

3.  General  Grant   possessed   in  a   striking  degree   all   the 
characteristics  of  the  successful  soldier.     His  methods  were  all 

5  stamped  with  tenacity  of  purpose,  with  originality  and  inge 
nuity.  He  depended  for  his  success  more  upon  the  powers  of 
invention  than  of  adaptation,  and  the  fact  that  he  has  been 
compared  at  different  times  to  nearly  every  great  commander 
in  history  is  perhaps  the  best  proof  that  he  was  like  none 

10  of  them.  He  was  possessed  of  a  moral  and  physical  courage 
which  was  equal  to  every  emergency  in  which  he  was  placed  ; 
calm  amidst  excitement,  patient  under  trials,  never  unduly 
elated  by  victory  or  depressed  by  defeat.  While  he  possessed 
a  sensitive  nature  and  a  singularly  tender  heart,  yet  he  never 

15  allowed  his  sentiments  to  interfere  with  the  stern  duties  of  the 
soldier.  He  knew  better  than  to  attempt  to  hew  rocks  with  a 
razor.  He  realized  that  paper  bullets  cannot  be  fired  in  war 
fare.  He  felt  that  the  hardest  blows  bring  the  quickest  results ; 
that  more  men  die  from  disease  in  sickly  camps  than  from 

20  shot  and  shell  in  battle. 

4.  His  magnanimity  to  foes,  his  generosity  to  friends,  will 
be  talked  of  as   long  as   manly  qualities   are  honored.    You 
know  after  Vicksburg  had  succumbed  to  him  he  said  in  his 
order :   "  The    garrison    will    march   out    to-morrow.    Instruct 

25  your  commands  to  be  quiet  and  orderly  as  the  prisoners  pass 
by,  and  make  no  offensive  remarks."  After  Lee's  surrender 
at  Appomattox,  when  our  batteries  began  to  fire  triumphal 
salutes,  he  at  once  suppressed  them,  saying  in  his  order : 
"  The  war  is  over  ;  the  rebels  are  again  our  countrymen  ;  the 

30  best  way  to  celebrate  the  victory  will  be  to  abstain  from  all 
demonstrations  in  the  field."  After  the  war  General  Lee  and 
his  officers  were  indicted  in  the  civil  courts  of  Virginia  by 
direction  of  a  President  who  was  endeavoring  to  make  treason 
odious  and  succeeding  in  making  nothing  so  odious  as  himself. 


PORTER  261 

General  Lee  appealed  to  his  old  antagonist  for  protection. 
He  did  not  appeal  to  that  heart  in  vain.  General  Grant  at 
once  took  up  the  cudgels  in  his  defense,  threatened  to  resign 
his  office  if  such  officers  were  indicted  while  they  continued 
to  obey  their  paroles,  and  such  was  the  logic  of  his  argument  5 
and  the  force  of  his  character  that  those  indictments  were 
soon  after  quashed.  So  that  he  penned  no  idle  platitude,  he 
fashioned  no  stilted  epigram,  he  spoke  the  earnest  convictions 
of  an  honest  heart  when  he  said,  "  Let  us  have  peace."  He 
never  tired  of  giving  unstinted  praise  to  worthy  subordinates  for  10 
the  work  they  did.  Like  the  chief  artists  who  weave  the 
Gobelin  tapestries,  he  was  content  to  stand  behind  the  cloth 
and  let  those  in  front  appear  to  be  the  chief  contributors  to 
the  beauty  of  the  fabric. 

5.   If  there  be  one  single  word  in  all  the  wealth  of  the  Eng-  15 
lish  language  which  best  describes  the  predominating  trait  of 
General  Grant's  character,  that  word  is  "loyalty."    Loyal  to 
every  great  cause  and  work  he  was  engaged  in  ;  loyal  to  his 
friends,  loyal  to  his  family,  loyal  to  his  country,  loyal  to  his 
God.    This  produced  a  reciprocal  effect  in  all  who  came  in  20 
contact  with  him.    It  was  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why  men 
became  so  loyally  attached  to  him.    It  is  true  that  this  trait  so 
dominated  his  whole  character  that  it  led  him  to  make  mis 
takes,  it  induced  him  to  continue  to  stand  by  men  who  were 
no  longer  worthy  of   his  confidence  ;  but  after  all,  it  was  a  25 
trait  so  grand,  so  noble,  we  do  not  stop  to  count  the  errors 
which  resulted.    It  showed  him  to  be  a  man   who  had    the 
courage  to  be  just,  to  stand  between  worthy  men  and  their 
unworthy  slanderers,  and  to  let  kindly  sentiments  have  a  voice 
in  an  age  in  which  the  heart  played  so  small  a  part  in  public  30 
life.    Many  a  public  man  has  had  hosts  of  followers 'because 
they  fattened  on  the  patronage  dispensed  at  his  hands ;  many 
a  one  has  had  troops  of  adherents  because  they  were  blind 
zealots  in  a  cause  he  represented;  but  perhaps  no  man  but 


262  EULOGY   OF   ULYSSES    S.  GRANT 

General  Grant  had  so  many  friends  who  loved  him  for  his 
own  sake,  whose  attachment  strengthened  only  with  time, 
whose  affection  knew  neither  variableness  nor  shadow  of 
turning,  who  stuck  to  him  as  closely  as  the  toga  of  Nessus, 
5  whether  he  was  captain,  general,  President,  or  simply  private 
citizen. 

6.  General  Grant  was  essentially  created  for  great  emergen 
cies  ;  it  was  the  very  magnitude  of  the  task  which  called  forth 
the  powers  which  mastered  it.     In  ordinary  matters  he  was  an 

10  ordinary  man.  In  momentous  affairs  he  towered  as  a  giant. 
When  he  served  in  a  company  there  was  nothing  in  his  acts  to 
distinguish  him  from  the  fellow-officers ;  but  when  he  wielded 
corps  and  armies  the  great  qualities  of  the  commander  flashed 
forth  and  his  master  strokes  of  genius  placed  him  at  once  in 

15  the  front  rank  of  the  world's  great  captains.  When  he  hauled 
wood  from  his  little  farm  and  sold  it  in  the  streets  of  St.  Louis 
there  was  nothing  in  his  business  or  financial  capacity  different 
from  that  of  the  small  farmers  about  him  ;  but  when,  as  Presi 
dent  of  the  Republic,  he  found  it  his  duty  to  puncture  the 

20  fallacy  of  the  inflationists,  to  throttle  by  a  veto  the  attempt  of 
unwise  legislators  to  tamper  with  the  American  credit,  he 
penned  a  State  paper  so  logical,  so  masterly,  that  it  has  ever 
since  been  the  pride,  wonder,  and  admiration  of  every  lover 
of  an  honest  currency.  He  was  made  for  great  things,  not 

25  for  little.  He  could  collect  for  the  nation  $15,000,000 
from  Great  Britain  in  settlement  of  the  Alabama  claims ;  he 
could  not  protect  his  own  personal  savings  from  the  mis 
creants  who  robbed  him  in  Wall  Street. 

7.  But    General   Grant    needs    no    eulogist.    His    name    is 
30  indelibly  engraved  upon  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.    His 

services  attest  his  greatness.  He  did  his  duty  and  trusted  to 
history  for  his  meed  of  praise.  The  more  history  discusses 
him,  the  more  brilliant  becomes  the  luster  of  his  deeds.  His 
record  is  like  a  torch,  —  the  more  it  is  shaken,  the  brighter  it 


PORTER  263 

burns.  His  name  will  stand  imperishable  when  epitaphs  have 
vanished  utterly,  and  monuments  and  statues  have  crumbled 
into  dust;  but  the  people  of  this  great  city,  everywhere  renowned 
for  their  deeds  of  generosity,  have  covered  it  anew  with  glory  in 
fashioning  in  enduring  bronze,  in  rearing  in  monumental  rock  5 
that  magnificent  tribute  to  his  worth  which  was  to-day  unveiled 
in  the  presence  of  countless  thousands.  As  I  gazed  upon  its 
graceful  lines  and  colossal  proportions  I  was  reminded  of  that 
childlike  simplicity  which  was  mingled  with  the  majestic 
grandeur  of  his  nature.  The  memories  clustering  about  it  will  10 
recall  the  heroic  age  of  the  Republic ;  it  will  point  the  path 
of  loyalty  to  children  yet  unborn  ;  its  mute  eloquence  will 
plead  for  equal  sacrifice,  should  war  ever  again  threaten  the 
nation's  life ;  generations  yet  to  come  will  pause  to  read  the 
inscription  which  it  bears,  and  the  voices  of  a  grateful  people  15 
will  ascend  from  the  consecrated  spot  on  which  it  stands,  as 
incense  rises  from  holy  places,  invoking  blessings  upon  the 
memory  of  him  who  had  filled  to  the  very  full  the  largest 
measure  of  human  greatness  and  covered  the  earth  with  his 
renown.  VV^£rV-^L  ""U^-A^A  /Cxfi*-^'  '-<  -° 

8.  Dtmng  his  last  illness  an  indescribably  touching  incident 
happened  which  will  ever  be  memorable  and  which  never  can 
be  effaced  from  the  memory  of  those  who  witnessed  it.    Even 
at  this  late  date  I  can  scarcely  trust  my  own  feelings  to  recall 
it.    It  was  on  Decoration  Day  ig-the  city  of  New  York,  the  last  25 
one  he  ever  saw  on  earth.  yn^jTmorning  the  members  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  veterans  in  that  vicinity,  C 
arose  earlier  than  was   their   wont.    They  seemed   to   spend 
more  time  that  morning  in  unfurling  the  old  battle  flags,  in 
burnishing  the  medals  of  riokoYwriich  decorated  their  breasts,  30 
for  on  that  day  they  had  determined  to  march  by  the  house  of 
their  dying  commander  to  give  him  a  last  marching  salute.    In 
the  streets  the  columns  were^forrmng  ;  inside  the  house,  on  that 
bed  from  which  he  was  never  to  rise  again,  lay  the  stricken 


(•-, 


i  )$&ri 


264  EULOGY   OF   ULYSSES    S.  GRANT 

chief.  The  hand  which  had  seized  the  surrendered  swords  of 
countless  thousands  could  scarcely  return  the  pressure  of  the 
friendly  grasp.  The  voice  which  had  cheered  on  to  triumphant 
victory  the  legions  of  America's  manhood  could  no  longer 

5  call  for  the  cooling  draught  which  slaked  the  thirst  of  a  fevered 
tongue ;  and  prostrate  on  that,  bed  of  anguish  lay  the  form 
which  in  the  New  World  hatT-ridden  at  the  head  of  conquering 
columns,  which  in  the  Old  World  had  been  deemed  worthy  to 
stand  with  head  covered  and  feet  sandaled  in  the  presence  of 
princes,  kings, ^mxleniperors.  Now  his  ear  caught  the  sound  of 

i    martial   music.    Bands  wereplayfrig  the  same   strains  which 

*  had  mingled  with  the  echoes  of  his  guns  at  Vicksburg,  the 
same  quicksteps  to  which  his  men  had  sped  in  hot  haste  in 
pursuit  of  Lee  through  Virginia.  And  then  came  the  heavy, 

5  measured  steps  of  moving  columns,  a  step  which  can  be 
acquired  only  by  years  of  service  in  the  field.  He  recognized 
it  all  now.  It  was  the  tread  of  his  old  veterans.  With  his 
little  remaining  strength  he  arose  and  dragged  himself  to  the 

j   ' 

window.    As  he  gazed  upon  those  battle  flags  dipping  to  him 
^"ft  in  salute,  those  precious  standards  bullet- riddled,  battle-stained, 
but  remnants  of  their  former  selves,  with  scarcely  enough  left 
of  them  on  which  to  print  the  names  of  the  battles  they  had 
seen,  his  eyes  once  more  kindled  with  the  flames  which  had 
lighted  them  at  Shiloh,  on  the  heights  of  Chattanooga,  amid 
25  the  glories  of  Appomattox,  and  as  those  war-scarred  veterans 
looked  with  uncovered  heads  and  upturned  faces  for  the  last 
time  upon  the  pallid  features  of  fneir  old  chief,  cheeks  which 
'    had  been  bronzed  by  Southern  suns  and  begrimed  with  powder 
were  bathed  in  tears  of  manly  grief,    Soon  they  saw  rising  the 
30  hand  which  had   so  often  poinfeu^out  to  them  the  path  of 
0     victory.    He   raised   it   slowly  and   painfully   to    his   head   in 
recognition  of  their  salutations.    The  last  of  the  columns  had 
passed,   the   hand  fell   heavily  by  his    side.    It   was  his  last 
military  salute. 


THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   GOOD 
DEEDS 

THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED 

AN    ADDRESS    DELIVERED    AT   THE    SEMICENTENNIAL    OF    GlRARD 

COLLEGE,  JANUARY  3,  1898. 

INTRODUCTION 

Thomas  Brackett  Reed,  lawyer  and  statesman,  "  Czar "  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  from  1889  to  1899,  was  born  in  Port 
land,  Maine,  October  18,  1839.  He  worked  his  way  through 
college,  graduating  from  Bowdoin  in  1860  with  high  honors  both 
for  scholarship  and  literary  talent.  He  taught  school,  acted  as 
paymaster  in  the  navy  for  a  year  during  the  Civil  War,  studied 
law,  began  practice  at  Portland,  but  soon  entered  politics,  and 
after  holding  several  State  offices  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1876 
on  the  Republican  ticket.  His  subsequent  career  is  chiefly  remem 
bered  for  the  part  he  played  as  member,  and  particularly  as 
Speaker,  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Here  he  at  once 
became  a  power  because  of  his  readiness  in  debate,  his  easy  mas 
tery  of  important  political  issues,  and  his  remarkable  executive 
ability  in  managing  and  controlling  men  and  factions.  Elected 
Speaker  of  the  House  in  the  Fifty-first  Congress,  the  vigor  of  his 
administration  at  once  attracted  widespread  attention.  His  rulings 
became  widely  famous.  One  of  his  methods  was  to  complete  a 
quorum  by  ordering  recorded  as  present  on  the  roll  call  the  names 
of  Democrats  present  who  did  not  answer  to  the  roll  call,  thereby 
reversing  the  practice  of  the  House.  The  resulting  assaults  upon 
him  as  «  Czar,"  which  were  essentially  just,  did  not  in  the  slightest 
degree  disturb  his  equanimity,  and  he  lived  to  see  his  rulings  jus 
tified  in  popular  approval,  since  they  stopped  the  dangerous  blocking 

265 


266        THE    IMMORTALITY  OF   GOOD   DEEDS 

of  the  public  work.  On  April  20,  1 899,  Mr.  Reed  announced  his 
retirement  from  political  life,  ending  his  speakership  with  the  close 
of  the  Fifty-fifth  Congress.  After  a  brief  period  of  renewed  law 
practice  in  New  York  City  he  died,  December  7,  1902. 

With  the  ajlaying  of  the  party  strife  engendered  during  his 
political  career,  Mr.  Reed  has  come  to  be  generally  regarded  as 
one  of  the  nation's  strong  men.  Strength,  intellectual  and  moral, 
was  his  most  pronounced  characteristic.  For  twenty-two  years 
consecutively  he  was  leader  of  his  party  in  Congress,  either  on  the 
floor  of  the  House  or  in  the  Speaker's  chair.  This  long  lease  of 
power  was  rendered  possible  not  alone  because  of  superior  intel 
lectual  qualities  for  leadership,  but  also  because  of  strong  moral 
qualities.  It  was  Mr.  Reed's  moral  force  which  enabled  him  to 
eventually  maintain  his  revolutionary  rulings,  for  his  integrity  and 
sense  of  honor  were  beyond  the  question  of  his  political  adver 
saries,  even  when  their  animosities  were  most  bitter  and  pas 
sionate.  Honorable  Joseph  G.  Cannon  says  of  him,  "  Thomas  B. 
Reed  was  the  strongest  intellectual  force,  crossed  on  the  best 
courage,  among  all  men  in  public  life  whom  I  have  known." 

For  the  most  part  Mr.  Reed's  public  speaking  was  of  course  in 
the  field  of  political  oratory.  Herein  he  stood  preeminent,  flis 
epigrams  were  frequently  used  with  more  effect  by  campaign 
managers  than  other  men's  whole  speeches.  Mr.  Reed  had  at 
least  a  theoretical  dislike  for  mere  oratory.  He  is  reported  to  have 
thanked  Heaven  that  the  House  of  Representatives  was  not  a 
deliberative  body.  He  also  disliked  long  speeches.  He  thought 
that  a  man  ought  to  be  able  to  say  all  that  was  worth  saying  in  a 
short  speech.  This  predilection  for  brevity,  the  lawyer's  instinct 
for  seizing  upon  the  strong  points  of  a  case,  and  also  skill  in 
oratory  proper  —  elevation  of  sentiment  and  adequacy  of  expres 
sion  —  are  well  illustrated  in  the  following  oration. 

i.  Six  hundred  and  fifty  or  seventy  years  ago,  England, 
which,  during  the  following  period  of  nearly  seven  centuries, 
has  been  the  richest  nation  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  began  to 
establish  the  two  great  universities  which,  from  the  banks  of 
5  the  Cam  and  the  Isis,  have  sent  forth  great  scholars  and 
priests  and  statesmen  whose  fame  is  the  history  of  their  own 


REED  267 

country,  and  whose  deeds  have  been  part  of  the  history  of 
evety  land  and  sea.  During  all  that  long  period,  reaching  back 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  it  was  ever  dreamed  that 
this  great  hemisphere  existed,  before  the  world  knew  that  it 
was  swinging  in  the  air  and  rolling  about  the  sun,  kings  and  5 
cardinals,  nobles  and  great  churchmen,  the  learned  and  the 
pious,  began  bestowing  upon  those  abodes  of  scholars  their 
gifts  of  land  and  money,  and  they  have  continued  their  bene 
factions  down  to  our  time.  What  those  universities,  with  all 
their  colleges  and  halls  teeming  with  scholars  for  six  hundred  10 
years,  have  done  for  the  progress  of  civilization  and  the  good 
of  man,  this  whole  evening  could  not  begin  to  tell.  Even 
your  imaginations  cannot,  at  this  moment,  create  the  sur 
prising  picture.  Nevertheless,  the  institution  at  which  most  of 
you  are,  or  have  been,  pupils  is  at  the  beginning  of  a  career  15 
with  which  those  great  universities  and  their  great  history  may 
struggle  in  vain  for  the  palm  of  the  greatest  usefulness  to  the 
race  of  man.  One  single  fact  will  make  it  evident  that  this  possi 
bility  is  not  the  creation  of  imagination  or  the  product  of  that 
boastfulness  which  America  will  some  day  feel  herself  too  great  20 
to  cherish,  but  a  simple  and  plain  possibility  which  has  the 
sanction  of  mathematics  as  well  as  hope. 

2.  Although  more  than  six  centuries  of  regal,  princely,  and 
pious  donations  have  been  poured  into  the  purses  of  these 
venerable  aids  to  learning,  the  munificence  of  one  American  25 
citizen  to-day  affords  an  endowment  income  equal  to  that 
of  each  university,  and  when  the  full  century  has  completed 
his  work,  will  afford  an  income  superior  to  the  income  of  both. 
When  Time  has  done  his  perfect  work,  Stephen  Girard,  mari 
ner  and  merchant,  may  be  found  to  have  come  nearer  immor-  30 
tality  than  the  long  procession  of  kings  and  cardinals,  nobles 
and  statesmen,  whose  power  was  mighty  in  their  own  days,  but 
who  are  only  on  their  way  to  oblivion.  I  am  well  aware  that 
this  college  of  orphans,  wherein  the  wisdom  of  the  founder 


268       THE   IMMORTALITY  OF   GOOD   DEEDS 

requires  facts  and  things  to  be  taught  rather  than  words  and 
signs,  can  as  yet  make  no  claim  to  that  higher  learning  so 
essential  to  the  ultimate  progress  of  the  world ;  but  it  has  its 
own  mission  as  great  and  as  high,  and  one  which  connects 
5  itself  more  nearly  with  the  practical  elevation  of  mankind. 

3.  Whether  the  overruling  Providence,  of  which  we  talk  so 
much  and  know  so  little,  has  each  of  us  in  His  kindly  care 
and  keeping,  we  shall  better  know  when  our  minds  have  the 
broader   scope   which   immortality  will  make  possible.    But, 

10  however  men  may  dispute  over  individual  care,  His  care  over 
the  race  as  a  whole  fills  all  the  pages  of  human  history.  Unity 
and  progress  are  the  watchwords  of  the  Divine  guidance,  and 
no  matter  how  harsh  has  been  the  treatment  by  one  man  of 
thousands  of  men,  every  great  event,  or  series  of  events,  has 

15  been  for  the  good  of  the  race.  Were  this  the  proper  time,  I 
could  show  that  wars  —  and  wars  ought  to  be  banished  for 
ever  from  the  face  of  the  earth;  that  pestilences  —  and  the 
time  is  coming  when  they  will  be  no  more ;  that  persecutions 
and  inquisitions — and  liberty  of  thought  is  the  richest  pearl  of 

20  life,  —  that  all  these  things,  wars,  pestilences,  and  persecu 
tions,  were  but  helps  to  the  unity  of  mankind.  All  things, 
including  our  own  natures,  bind  us  together  for  deep  and 
unrelenting  purpose. 

4.  Think  what  we  should  be,  who  are  unlearned  and  brutish, 
25  if  the  wise,  the  learned,  and  the  good  could  separate  them 
selves  from  us;  were  free  from  our  superstitions  and  vague 
and  foolish  fears,  and  stood  loftily  by  themselves,  wrapped  in 
their  own   superior  wisdom.    Therefore   hath  it  been  wisely 
ordained  that  no  set  of  creatures  of  our  race  shall  be  beyond 

30  the  reach  of  their  helping  hand;  so  lofty  that  they  will  not 
fear  our  reproaches,  or  so  mighty  as  to  be  beyond  our  reach. 
If  the  lofty  and  the  learned  do  not  lift  us  up,  we  drag  them 
down.  But  unity  is  not  the  only  watchword ;  there  must  be 
progress  also.  Since,  by  a  law  we  cannot  evade,  we  are  to 


REED  269 

keep  together,  and  since  we  are  to  progress,  we  must  do  it 
together,  and  nobody  must  be  left  behind.  This  is  not  a 
matter  of  philosophy;  it  is  a  matter  of  fact.  No  progress 
which  did  not  lift  all,  ever  lifted  any.  If  we  let  the  poison  of 
filth  diseases  percolate  through  the  hovels  of  the  poor,  death  5 
knocks  at  the  palace  gates.  If  we  leave  to  the  greater  horror 
of  ignorance  any  portion  of  our  race,  the  consequences  of 
ignorance  strike  us  all,  and  there  is  no  escape.  We  must  all 
move,  but  we  must  all  keep  together.  It  is  only  when  the 
rear  guard  comes  up  that  the  vanguard  can  go  on.  10 

5.  Stephen  Girard  must   have   understood   this.    He   took 
under  his  charge  the  progress  of  those  who  needed  his  aid, 
knowing  that  if  they  were  added  to  the  list  of  good  citizens, 
to  the  catalogue  of  moral,  enterprising,  and  useful  men,  there 
was  so  much  added,  not  to  their  happiness  only,  but  to  the  15 
welfare  of  the  race  to  which  he  belonged.    For  his  orphans 
the  vanguard  need  not  wait.    Your  founder  also  understood 
what  education  was.   Most  men  brought  up  as  he  was  on  ship 
board  and  on  shore,  with  few  books  and  fewer  studies,  if  they 
cared  for   learning  at  all,   would   have   had  for  learning  an  20 
uncouth  reverence,  such  as  the  savage  has  for  his  idol,  a  rev 
erence  for  the  fancied  magnificence  of  the   unknown.    This 
would  have  led  him  to  establish  a  university  devoted  to  out-of- 
the-way  learning  beyond  his  ken,  or  to  link  his  name  to  glo 
ries  to  which  he  could  not  aspire.    But  the  man  who  named  25 
his  vessels  after  the  great  French    authors   of   his  age,   and 
who  read  their  works  himself,  knew  from  them  and  from  his 
own  laborious  and  successful  life  that  learning  was  not  all  of 
education,  and  so  gave  his  orphans  an  entrance  into  a  prac 
tical  .world    with  such    learning  as    left    the   whole    field    of  30 
learning  before  them,  if  they  wanted  it,  with  power  to  make 
fortunes  besides. 

6.  It  is  strange  to  watch  the  growth  into  fame  and  respect 
and  reverence  of  Stephen  Girard,  as  his  plan  of  conferring  a 


270       THE    IMMORTALITY  OF   GOOD    DEEDS 

benefaction  upon  the  city  and  the  people  whom  he  loved  has 
slowly  unfolded  itself  before  their  gaze.  The  generation  in 
which  he  lives  can  seldom  understand  the  really  great  man. 
We  live  for  to-day,  and  he  lives  for  a  day  after  to-day.  He 
5  takes  on  the  century  in  which  he  lives  and  a  hundred  years 
after  he  has  passed  away.  The  man  of  mediocrity  must  make 
his  hay  under  the  shine  of  the  present  sun,  and  so  must  clasp 
every  hand  he  can  touch  and  make  us  think  he  loves  us  all. 
But  the  greatest  merchant  of  his  time,  with  the  noblest  ambi- 

10  tion  of  them  all,  was  so  resolute  in  his  pursuit  of  wealth  and 
so  coldly  determined  in  all  his  endeavors  that  he  seems  to 
have  uncovered  to  few  or  to  none  the  generous  purpose  of 
his  heart.  What  he  said  to  the  man  who  was  so  unworthy  to 
write  his  first  biography,  but  who  was  forced  to  bless  when 

15  he  had  gone  forth  to  curse,  is  the  secret  of  his  career.  "  My 
actions  must  make  my  life,"  he  said,  and  of  his  life  not  one 
moment  was  wasted.  "  Facts  and  things  rather  than  words 
and  signs "  were  the  warp  and  woof  of  his  existence.  No 
wonder  he  left  the  injunction  that  this  should  be  the  teaching 

20  of  those  objects  of  his  bounty  into  whose  faces  he  was  never 
to  look. 

7.  The  vast  wealth  which  Mr.  Girard  had  was  of  itself  alone 
evidence  of  greatness.  I  have  not  forgotten  the  epitaph  on 
Colonel  Charters,  who  died  rich  and  infamous,  that  you  could 

25  see  what  God  thought  of  riches  by  the  people  He  gave  them 
to.  Fortunes  may  be  made  and  lost.  Fortunes  may  be  inherited. 
These  things  mean  nothing.  But  the  fortune  which  has  given 
us  all  our  surroundings  to-night  was  made  and  firmly  held  in 
a  hand  of  eighty  years.  That  meant  greatness.  But  when  the 

30  dead  hand  opens  and  pours  the  rich  bloom  of  a  preparation 
for  life  over  six  thousand  boys  in  the  half-century  which  has 
gone  and  thousands  in  the  centuries  to  come,  that  means  more 
than  greatness.  Mr.  Girard  gave  more  than  his  money.  He 
put  into  his  enterprise  his  own  powerful  brain,  and,  like  the 


REED  271 

ships  he  sent  to  sea,  long  after  his  death  the  adventure  came 
home  laden,  not  with  the  results  of  his  capital  alone,  but  of 
his  forethought  and  his  genius.  He  builded  for  so  many  years 
that  the  stars  will  be  cold  before  his  work  is  finished.  We 
envious  people,  who  cannot  be  wealthy  any  more  than  we  can  5 
add  a  cubit  to  our  stature,  avenge  ourselves  by  thinking  and 
proclaiming  that  pursuit  of  wealth  is  sordid  and  stifles  the 
nobler  sentiments  of  the  soul.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  if 
whoever  makes  to  grow  two  blades  of  grass  where  but  one 
grew  before  is  a  benefactor  of  his  race,  he  also  is  a  benefactor  10 
who  makes  two  ships  sail  the  sea  where  but  one  encountered 
its  storms  before.  However  sordid  the  owner  may  be,  this  is 
a  benefit  of  which  he  cannot  deprive  the  world. 

8.  That  men  who  have  achieved  great  riches  are  not  always 
shut  out  by  their  riches  from  the  nobler  emotions,  Stephen  15 
Girard  was   himself  a  most  illustrious  example.    A  hundred 
years  ago  this  city  was  under  the  black  horror  of  a  plague.    So 
terrible  was  the  fear  that  fell  upon  the  city,  that  the  tenderest 

of  domestic  ties  —  the  love  of  husband  and  wife  and  of  parents 
for  children  —  seemed  obliterated.  Even  gold  lost  its  power  20 
in  the  multitudinous  presence  of  impending  death.  There  was 
no  refuge  even  in,  the  hospital,  which,  reeking  with  disease, 
was  a  hell  out  of  which  there  was  no  redemption.  Neither 
money  nor  affection  could  buy  service.  "  Fear  was  on  every 
soul."  .  25 

9.  Mr.  Girard  was  then  in  the  prime  of  life,  forty-two  years 
old,  in  health  and  strength,  already  rich,  and  with  a  future  as 
secure  as  ever  falls  to  human  lot.    Of  his  own  accord,  as  a 
volunteer,  he  took  charge  of  the  interior  of  the  deadly  hospital, 
and  for  two  long  and  weary  months  stood  face  to  face  with  30 
death. 

10.  A  poet  himself  has  sung  in  vain  of  what  makes  the  little 
songs  linger  in  our  hearts  for  ages,  while  epics  perish  and 
tragedies  pass  out  of  sight,  Why  this  is  so  we  shall  never  know 


2/2        THE    IMMORTALITY   OF   GOOD    DEEDS 

by  reason  alone.  Way  down  in  the  human  heart  there  is  a  ten 
derness  for  self-sacrifice  which  makes  it  seem  loftier  than  the 
love  of  glory,  and  reveals  the  possibility  of  the  eternal  soul. 
Wars  and  sieges  pass  away  and  great  intellectual  efforts  cease 
5  to  stir  our  hearts,  but  the  man  who  sacrifices  himself  for  his 
fellow  lives  forever.  We  forget  the  war  in  which  was  the  siege 
of  Zutphen,  and  almost  the  city  itself,  but  we  shall  never  forget 
the  death  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney.  Scholars  alone  read  the  work 
of  his  life,  but  all  mankind  honors  him  in  the  story  of  his  death. 

10  The  great  war  of  the  Crimea,  in  our  own  day,  with  its  generals 
and  marshals,  and  its  bands  of  storming  soldiery,  has  almost 
passed  from  our  memories,  but  the  time  will  never  come  when 
the  charge  of  Balaklava  will  cease  to  stir  the  heart  or  pass  from 
story  or  from  song.  It  happened  to  Stephen  Girard,  mariner 

15  and  merchant,  seeking  wealth  and  finding  it,  whose  ships 
covered  every  sea,  whose  intellect  penetrated,  as  your  treas 
urer's  books  will  show,  a  hundred  years  into  the  future,  to  light 
up  his  life  by  a  deed  more  noble  than  the  dying  courtesy  of 
Sidney  and  braver  than  the  charge  of  the  six  hundred,  for  he 

20  walked  under  his  own  orders  day  by  day  and  week  by  week, 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  death,  and  was  not  afraid.  How  fit, 
indeed,  it  is  that  amidst  these  temples  which  are  the  tribute 
to  his  intellect  should  stand  the  tablet  which  is  the  tribute  to 
his  heart ! 

25  ii.  Surely,  if  the  immortal  dead,  serene  with  the  wisdom  of 
eternity,  are  not  above  all  joy  and  pride,  he  must  feel  a  thrill 
to  know  that  no  mariner  or  merchant  ever  sent  forth  a  venture 
upon  unknown  seas  which  came  back  with  richer  cargoes  or  in 
statelier  ships. 


TRIBUTE  TO   MARCUS  A.  HANNA 

ALBERT  JEREMIAH  BEVERIDGE 

A  EULOGY  AT  THE  HANNA  MEMORIAL  IN  THE  UNITED  SPATES 
SENATE,  APRIL  7,  1904. 

INTRODUCTION 

Albert  J.  Beveridge,  lawyer,  statesman,  and  orator,  was  born  on 
the  border  of  Adam  and  Highland  counties,  Ohio,  October  6,  1862. 
After  the  Civil  War  his  family  removed  to  Illinois.  He  received 
a  common  and  high  school  education,  worked  his  way  through  col 
lege,  and  was  graduated  from  DePauw  University  in  1885.  Soon 
thereafter  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  began  the  practice 
of  law  at  Indianapolis,  Indiana.  In  1899  he  was  elected  United 
States  Senator  from  Indiana,  being  at  that  time  the  youngest  mem 
ber  of  the  Senate.  He  soon  became  widely  known  through  his 
public  speeches,  both  in  the  Senate  and  on  the  hustings.  He  fer 
vidly  supported  the  administration's  Philippine  policy,  and  has 
become  recognized  as  the  leading  sponsor  for  that  policy  in  Con 
gress.  As  a  result  of  a  trip  to  the  Orient,  he  is  the  author  of  a 
book  on  the  Eastern  question,  The  Russian  Advance  (1903). 

Endowed  with  native  ability,  Mr.  Beveridge  has  won  his  spurs 
by  aiming  high  and  working  hard.  He  is  generally  admired  as  a 
fine  type  of  the  young  American  in  public  life.  Says  Mr.  Albert 
Shaw,  in  the  Review  of  Reviews  for  January,  1905  : 

"  Senator  Beveridge  brings  a  clear  head  and  a  firm  will  into  the 
United  States  Senate.  .  .  .  He  is  very  much  more  than  a  good 
orator,  a  good  lawyer,  a  good  legislator,  and  a  good  politician.  He 
is  a  man  of  good  conscience,  of  fidelity,  of  courage,  and  of  patriot 
ism.  Whatever  faults  he  may  possess, —  and  doubtless  he  has  some, 
—  he  has  the  virtues  and  the  essential  qualities  of  a  statesman." 

273 


274  TRIBUTE   TO   MARCUS   A.  HANNA 

Mr.  Beveridge  is  considered  one  of  the  best  speakers  in  Con 
gress,  and  he  enjoys  a  national  reputation  as  a  campaign  orator. 
While  pursuing  his  college  course  he  gave  particular  attention  to 
the  theory  and  practice  of  oratory.  He  took  a  leading  place  in  the 
college  literary  society,  and  there  won  immediate  success  as  an 
orator,  debater,  and  organizer.  In  1899-1900  he  wrote  a  series  of 
articles  for  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  which  furnish  a  good 
exposition  of  his  ideas  regarding  oratory,  both  as  to  manner  and 
matter.  He  stresses  the  need  of  directness  and  earnestness  in 
delivery,  and  the  avoidance  of  tricks  and  artificialities.  "  As  to 
matter*  and  style,"  he  says,  "  aim  only  to  be  clear.  Nothing  else  is 
essential." 

While  Congressional  oratory  is  not  highly  rated,  as  a  rule,  still 
on  those  occasions  set  apart  for  commemorating  deceased  members,, 
when  the  speakers  take  time  for  preparation  in  advance,  eulogies 
of  a  high  order  of  merit  are  delivered.  In  thought  and  expression, 
the  following  tribute  will  bear  careful  study  as  an  example  of  the 
briefer  form  of  eulogy. 

1 .  MR.  PRESIDENT  :   Since  to  all  earthly  work  an  end  must 
come,  our  words  of  farewell  to  a  fellow-workman  should  not 
alone  be  those  of  grief  that  man's  common  lot  has  come  to  him, 
but  also  of  pride  and  joy  that  his  task  has  been  done  worthily. 

5  Powerful  men  so  weave  themselves  into  their  hour  that,  for  the 
moment,  it  all  but  seems  the  world  will  stop  when  they  depart. 
Yet  it  does  not  stop  or  even  pause.  Undisturbed  Time  still 
wings  his  endless  and  unwearied  flight ;  and  the  progress  of 
the  race  goes  on  and  up  toward  the  light,  realizing  at  every 
10  step  more  and  more  of  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good. 

2.  So  it  is  not  important  that  any  of  us  should  long  remain  ; 
the  Master  Builder  lacks  not  craftsmen  to  take  our  place.    But 
it  is  important  to  the  uttermost  that  while  we  are  here  we 
should  do  our  duty  to  the  full  perfection  of  our  powers,  fear^ 

15  lessly  and  faithfully,  with  clean  hands,  and  hearts  ever  full  of 
kindness,  forbearance,  charity. 

3.  These  are  the  outline  thoughts  that  the  absence  of  our 
friend  compels.    With  his  whole  strength  he  did  his  work  from 


BEVERIDGE  275 

boyhood  to  the  place  of  rest.    He  was  no  miser  of  his  life  — 
he  poured  it  into  discharge  of  duty,  keeping  with  nature  no 
account  of  heart  beats. 

4.  The  things  he  did  were  real  things.    He  was  the  very 
spirit  of  the  practical.    Yet  the  practical  did  not  kill  or  even    5 
impair  the  human  in  him.    He  never  lost  the  gift  of  lovable- 
ness.    His  sense  of  human  touch  and  fellowship  was  not  dulled, 
but  made  more  delicate  by  time  and  the  world.    The  years 
made  him  wiser,  but  they  made  him  mellower,  too. 

5.  And  so  he  won  the  people's  affection  as  well  as  their  10 
applause.    And  affection  is  worth  more  than  applause.    There 

is  no  greater  glory  than  this  —  to  make  a  nation  your  friend. 
Senator  Hanna  did  that.    For  when  the  angel  of  peace,  which 
men  call  Death,  took  our  brother  to  his  well-earned  rest,  the 
people  knew  that  a  friend  had  left  them.    And  the  people  were  15 
sad  that  he  had  gone  away. 

6.  This  human  quality  in  him  made  all  he  did  a  living  thing, 
all  he  said  a  living  word.    He  was  the  man  of  affairs  in  states 
manship;    yet  his   personality  gave   to   propositions   of  mere 
national  business  something  of  the  warmth  and  vitality  of  prin-  20 
ciples.    He  was  the  personification  of  our  commercial  age,  — 
the  age  of  building,  planting,  reaping ;  of  ships  on  ocean,  and 
on  land  steel  highways  and  the  rolling  wheels  of  trade  ;  of  that 
movement  of  the  times  which  knits  together  with  something 
more  than  verbal  ties  all  the  children  of  men,  weaves  tangible  25 
civilization  around  the  globe,  and  will,  in  time,  make  of  all 
peoples  neighbors,  brothers,  friends. 

7.  Thus  he  was,  unwittingly  no  doubt,  one  of  the  agents  of 
God's  great  purpose  of  the  unification  of  the  race.    We  are  all 
such  agents,  small  or  great.    If  this  is  not  so  —  if  we  are  not,  30 
ignorantly  perhaps  and  blindly,  but  still  surely,  spinning  our 
lives  into  the  Master's  design,  whose  pattern  He  alone  can 
comprehend ;  if  we  and  all  things  are  not  working  together 
for  good;  if  life  is  but  a  breath  exhaled  and  then  forever 


276  TRIBUTE   TO   MARCUS   A.  HANNA 

lost  —  our  work  means  less  and  is  worth  less  than  that  of  coral 
insects,  which,  from  the  depths,  build  ever  toward  the  light 
until  islands  stand  above  the  waves,  permanent  monuments  of 
an  intelligent  architecture. 

5  8.  Work  with  real  things  —  real  earth,  real  ocean,  real 
mountains,  real  men  —  made  him  conservative.  And  his  con 
servatism  was  real.  Much  that  is  accepted  as  conservatism  is 
spurious,  mere  make-believe.  Conservatism  does  not  mean 
doubt  or  indecision.  It  does  not  mean  wise  looks,  masking 

10  vacuity,  nor  pompous  phrase,  as  meaningless  as  it  is  solemn. 
Conservatism  means  clear  common  sense,  which  equally  rejects 
the  fanaticism  of  precedent  and  the  fanaticism  of  change.  It 
would  not  have  midnight  last  just  because  it  exists ;  and  yet  it 
knows  that  dawn  comes  not  in  a  flash,  but  gradually  —  comes 

15  with  a  grand  and  beautiful  moderation.  So  the  conservative 
is  the  real  statesman.  He  brings  things  to  pass  in  a  way  that 
lasts  and  does  good.  Senator  Hanna  was  a  conservative. 

9.  Working  with  real  things  among  real  men  also  kept  fresh 
his  faith  and  hope.    No  sailor  of  the  seas,  no  delver  in  the 

20  earth,  no  builder  of  rooftrees  can  be  a  pessimist.  He  who 
plants  doubts  not  our  common  mother's  generosity,  or  fails  to 
see  in  the  brown  furrow  the  certainty  of  coming  harvests.  He 
who  sinks  a  well  and  witnesses  the  waters  rise  understands  that 
the  eternal  fountains  will  never  cease  to  flow.  Only  the  man 

25  whose  hands  never  touch  the  realities  of  life  despairs  of  hu 
man  progress  or  doubts  the  providence  of  God.  The  fable 
of  Antaeus  is  literal  truth  for  body,  mind,  and  soul.  And  so 
Senator  Hanna,  dealing  with  living  men  and  the  actualities  of 
existence,  had  all  the  virile  hope  of  youth,  all  the  unquestion- 

30  ing  faith  of  prophecy.  These  are  the  qualities  of  the  effective 
leadership  of  men. 

10.  He  is  gone  from  us  —  gone  before  us.    Strength  and 
frailty,  kindness  and  wrath,  wisdom  and  folly,  laughter  and 
frown,  all  the  elements  of  life  and  his  living  of  it  have  ceased 


BEVERIDGE  277 

their  visible  play  and  action.  "  Where,"  said  despairing  Villon, 
"where  are  the  snows  of  yesteryear?"  Vanished,  he  would 
have  us  believe.  Yes,  but  vanished  only  in  form.  "  The  snows 
of  yesteryear  "  are  in  the  stream,  in  cloud  and  rain,  in  sap  of 
tree  and  bloom  of  flower,  in  heart  and  brain  of  talent  and  5 
of  beauty.  Nothing  is  lost  even  here  on  our  ancient  and 
kindly  earth.  So  the  energies  of  our  friend,  and  those  of  all 
men,  have  touched  into  activity  forces  that,  influencing  still 
others,  will  move  on  forever. 

ii.  As  to  the  other  life,  we  know  not  fully  what  it  is ;  but  10 
that  it  is,  we  know.    Knowing  this,  we  who  are  left  behind  go 
on  about  our  daily  tasks,  assured  that  in  another  and  truer 
existence  our  friend  is  now  established,  weakness  cast  aside  as 
a  cloak  when  winter  has  passed,  vision  clear  as  when  at  dawn 
we  wake  from  dreams,  heart  happy  as  when,  the  victory  won,  15 
we  cease  from  effort  and  from  care.    For  him   the  night  is 
done,  and  it  is  written  that  "joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 


MARSHALL  AND  THE 
CONSTITUTION 

WILLIAM  BOURKE  COCKRAN 

AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  ERIE  COUNTY  BAR  ASSOCI 
ATION,  BUFFALO,  NEW  YORK,  FEBRUARY  14,  1901,  UPON  THE 
OCCASION  OF  THE  CENTENNIAL  ANNIVERSARY  OF  MARSHALL'S 
APPOINTMENT  AS  CHIEF  JUSTICE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
SUPREME  COURT. 

INTRODUCTION 

William  Bourke  Cockran,  lawyer,  politician,  and  orator,  is  one 
of  the  many  men  of  Irish  birth  who  have  become  noted  as  Amer 
ican  orators.  He  was  born  in  Ireland,  February  28,  1854.  He  was 
educated  in  that  country  and  in  France,  migrating  to  the  United 
States  in  1871.  For  five  years  he  taught  school  in  New  York, 
studying  law  at  the  same  time.  In  1876  he  was  admitted  to  the 
New  York  State  bar,  and  soon  took  a  prominent  part  in  state  poli 
tics.  His  ability  as  a  lawyer  gained  for  him  a  place  on  the  New 
York  commission  for  revising  the  judiciary  clause  of  the  State  Con 
stitution.  In  1882  he  became  counsel  to  the  sheriff  of  New  York 
City,  and  was  reappointed  in  1885.  In  politics  Mr.  Cockran  is  a 
"gold"  Democrat.  He  supported  McKinley  for  the  presidency  in 
1896,  but  advocated  the  election  of  Bryan  in  1900  on  account  of 
the  "  imperialism  "  issue.  With  some  intermissions,  he  has  repre 
sented  New  York  in  Congress  since  1886. 

Mr.  Cockran  is  a  ready,  polished,  and  eloquent  speaker.  As  a 
campaign  orator  he  has  been  a  tower  of  strength  to  whatever  side 
he  espoused,  and  he  is  also  a  favorite  as  an  orator  for  special 
occasions.  He  is  a  man  with  a  strong  personal  magnetism,  his 
speeches  losing  not  a  little  in  the  reading.  He  himself  says  in  a 

279 


280        MARSHALL  AND   THE   CONSTITUTION 

letter  to  the  editor :  "  Nearly  all  my  speeches  have  been  extempo 
raneous.  ...  It  is  hard  for  me  to  say  which  I  consider  the  best, 
or  indeed,  that  I  think  any  of  them  meritorious.  As  I  read  them 
now  my  principal  feeling  is  one  of  surprise  at  the  measure  of 
success  which  they  achieved  .when  delivered." 

1 .  If  there  be  any  one  capable  of  disputing  that,  aside  from 
the  establishment  of  Christianity,  the  foundation  of  this  Repub 
lic  was  the  most  memorable  event  in  the  history  of  man,  we 
would  not  be  apt  to  seek  him  at  this  board  or  to  find  him  in 

5  this  country.  And  if  the  foundation  of  this  government  be  the 
most  momentous  human  achievement  of  all  the  centuries, 
then  clearly  the  appointment  of  John  Marshall  to  the  Chief 
Justiceship  of  the  United  States  was  the  first  event  of  the  last 
century  no  less  in  the  magnitude  of  its  importance  than  in  the 
10  order  of  its  occurrence. 

2.  To  the  judicial  career  whose  initial  stage  we  celebrate 
this    country  mainly  owes  its  independent  Judiciary,  —  the 
unique  feature   of  our  political  system,  the  distinctive  con 
tribution  of  American  democracy  to   the  civilization  of  the 

15  world,  the  vital  principle  of  constitutional  freedom,  —  on 
which  depend  the  strength  which  this  government  possesses, 
the  fruit  which  it  has  borne,  the  cloudless  prospect  which  it 
enjoys. 

3.  It   is    certainly  beyond  dispute    that    this   government, 
20  which    is   the  freest,   is  also   the   most  stable  in   the  world. 

During  the  period  of  its  existence  what  changes  have  swept 
over  the  earth ;  what  upheavals  have  convulsed  society ;  what 
dynasties  have  been  established  and  overthrown  ;  what  empires 
have  risen  and  fallen ;  what  political  enterprises  have  been 
25  undertaken  and  abandoned  ;  what  constitutions  framed  in  high 
hopes  have  perished  in  disappointment  and  confusion  !  It  has 
seen  the  Whig  oligarchy,  which  ruled  England  for  a  century 
and  a  half,  give  place  to  a  republic  preserving  the  outward 
form  of  monarchy  only  to  veil  the  democratic  character  of  its 


COCKRAN  281 

evolution.  It  has  seen  the  king  who  aided  these  colonies  to 
achieve  their  liberty  immolated  on  the  scaffold  in  the  name  of 
liberty,  and  France,  after  staggering  through  anarchy  to  mili 
tary  despotism,  sink  back  into  monarchy ;  and  after  again 
overturning  thrones  and  stumbling  once  more  into  imperialism,  5 
while  groping  towards  republicanism,  engage  in  a  third  attempt 
to  establish  some  form  of  constitutional  freedom. 

4.  It  has  seen  Prussia  rise  from  the  ashes  of  defeat  and 
humiliation,  and  after  humbling  the  pride  of  the  Hapsburgs 
assume  the  military  primacy  of  Europe  when  her  king,  raised  10 
to  imperial  dignity  on  the  bucklers  of  his  triumphant  soldiery, 
proclaimed  a  new  empire  of  Germany  in  the  conquered  halls 

of  Louis  the  Magnificent.    It  has  seen  the  Republic  of  Venice 
perish  in  its  age  and  decay;  the  German  principalities  dis 
appear  from  the  banks  of  the  Rhine ;  the  ancient  city  of  Leo  15 
and  of  Gregory  become  the  capital  of  a  new  kingdom,  and 
Spain  begin  to  recover  in  the  cultivation  of  her  own  lands 
the   prosperity  which  she   sacrificed  in   attempts  to  conquer 
other  lands.    It  has  seen  the  veil  of  darkness  and  ignorance 
rent  in  the  East.    As  I  speak,  it  sees  the  forces  of  Western  20 
civilization  standing  in  the  battered  gateways  .of  Far  Cathay. 
And  through  all  these  changes,  convulsions,  revolutions,  this 
Republic  stands  to-day,  as  it  went  into  operation  one  hundred 
and  twelve  years  ago,  unchanged  in  any  of  its  essential  features, 
except  that  its  foundations  have  sunk  deeper  in  the  affections  25 
of  the  people  whose  security  it  has  maintained,  whose  pros 
perity  it  has  promoted,  whose  conditions  it  has  blessed. 

5.  To  what  must  we  attribute  this  stability  which  has  main 
tained  our  government  unmoved  and  apparently  immovable  on 
solid  foundations  amid  the   upheavals  which   have   engulfed  30 
ancient  systems?    It  is  not   explained  by  the  lofty  purpose 
which  animated  its  founders,  because  other  governments  con 
ceived  in  equally  high  aspirations  have  perished  at  the  first 
attempt  to  put  them  in  practical  operation.    It  is  not  because 


282        MARSHALL  AND   THE    CONSTITUTION 

it  rests  on  a  written  constitution,  for  the  pathway  of  man  is 
strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  constitutional  experiments.    It  is 
not   because    our    Constitution    declares    certain    elementary 
rights  of  man  to  be  inviolable.    Its  provisions  in  this  respect 
5  were  modeled  on  existing  institutions.    Their  very  language 
was  not  original.    In  terms  as  well  as  in  substance  they  were 
borrowed  from  other   charters  of  liberty.    The  French  Con 
stitution  of  1793  and  the  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man, 
which  was  made  a  part  of  it,  contained  even  more  elaborate 
10  provisions  for   the   safety  of    the    individual.    But  while   the 
French  Constitution  was  munificent  in  its  promises  of  privi 
leges  to  the  citizen,  the  means  which  it  adopted  to  secure 
them   were   inadequate   and   indeed   puerile.    You  remember 
how  that  remarkable  document  sought  to  enforce  its  provisions 
15  by  directing  the  Constitution  to  be  "  written  upon  tablets  and 
placed   in   the  midst  of    the  legislative  body  and   in  public 
places,"  that  in  the  language  of  the  Declaration  "the  people 
may  always  have  before  its  eyes  the  fundamental  pillars  of  its 
liberty  and  strength,  and  the  authorities  the  standard  of  their 
20  duties,  and  the  legislator  the   object  of  his  problem."    The 
Constitution    was    placed   "under    the   guarantee   of   all   the 
virtues,"  and  the  Declaration  concluded  by  solemnly  enacting 
that  "  resistance  to  oppression  is  the  inference  from  the  other 
rights  of  man.    It  is  oppression  of  the  whole  society  if  but 
25  one  of  its  members  be  oppressed.    When  government  violates 
the  rights  of  the  people,  insurrection  of  the  people  and  of 
every  single  part  of  it  is  the  most  sacred  of  its  rights  and  the 
highest  of  its  duties." 

6.  The  framers  of  that  Constitution  made  the  fatal  mistake 
30  of  assuming  that  to  declare  certain  privileges  the  right  of  the 
citizen  was  equivalent  to  placing  them  in  his  possession.  In 
practical  operation,  however,  it  was  soon  found  that  the  sacred 
right  of  insurrection  was  too  unwieldy  a  weapon  to  be  wielded 
by  a  single  arm.  "  All  the  virtues "  proved  but  indifferent 


COCKRAN  283 

guardians  for  a  constitution  assailed  by  all  the  passions.  A 
mob  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  a  victim  did  not  pause  to  read 
the  measure  of  his  rights  on  tablets,  however  legibly  inscribed 
or  conspicuously  posted.  The  legislator  menaced  by  an  infu 
riated  populace  did  not  hesitate  to  seek  his  own  security  in  5 
the  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  thousands  without  regard  to  "  the 
object  of  his  problem."  The  Constitution  written  with  so  much 
care,  acclaimed  with  so  much  enthusiasm,  adopted  with  so 
much  hope,  was  suspended  even  before  it  went  into  opera 
tion.  And  when  on  the  trial  of  Danton  a  decree  was  passed  10 
authorizing  juries  to  declare  themselves  satisfied  of  the  guilt  of 
persons  accused,  at  any  stage  of  the  proceedings  against  them, 
the  last  barrier  for  the  protection  of  the  citizen  was  swept 
away.  Frenzied  patriots  and  plotting  demagogues  combined 
to  produce  a  wild  reign  of  terror  —  a  saturnalia  of  assassination.  15 
Violence  became  synonymous  with  patriotism ;  to  be  accused 
was  to  be  condemned ;  to  refuse  participation  in  murder  was 
to  become  its  victim;  the  guillotine  became  the  altar  of 
popular  sovereignty,  exacting  human  sacrifices  in  ghastly 
abundance.  The  blood  of  the  best  and  of  the  worst ;  of  the  20 
most  patriotic  and  of  the  most  disaffected  ;  of  the  philanthropic 
dreamer  and  of  the  brutal  cut-throat ;  of  both  sexes,  of  every 
age,  and  of  all  conditions,  drenched  the  soil  of  France  —  not 
as  the  stern  ransom  of  liberty,  but  as  a  mad  libation  to  anarchy 
and  riot.  The  Constitution  founded  to  protect  the  rights  of  25 
man  perished  miserably  after  violating  all  of  them,  and  repub 
lican  institutions  became  discredited  throughout  Europe  for  a 
century. 

7.  The  distinction  between  our  Republic  and  all  others  — 
which  has  made  it  a  bulwark  of  liberty  and  order,  while  they  30 
have  generally  become  engines  of  oppression  and  sources  of 
confusion  —  is  not  in  the  varied  extent  of  privileges  promised 
by  them,  but  in  the  different  means  which  they  provide  for 
their  enforcement.  Our  Constitution  was  not  committed  to 


284       MARSHALL  AND   THE   CONSTITUTION 

the  "care  of  all  the  virtues,"  but  to  the  courage,  wisdom,  and 
patriotism  of  an  independent  judiciary.  The  whole  security  of 
our  political  system  rests  primarily  on  Article  III  of  the  Con 
stitution,  which  provides  that  the  judicial  power  of  the  United 
5  States  shall  be  vested  in  one  Supreme  Court  and  in  such 
inferior  courts  as  Congress  may  from  time  to  time  ordain  and 
establish ;  and  that  the  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases 
in  law  and  equity  arising  under  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  treaties  made  under  their  authority ;  to 

10  controversies  between  two  or  more  states,  between  a  state  and 
citizens  of  another  state,  and  between  citizens  of  different 
states.  This  is  the  corner  stone  of  our  political  structure,  but 
not  the  force  which  secures  this  government  firmly  on  its 
foundations.  The  experience  of  France,  and  indeed  of  this 

15  country,  shows  that  constitutional  provisions  of  themselves  are 
but  mere  admonitions,  always  disregarded  in  practice  unless 
adequate  instrumentalities  are  provided  to  enforce  them.  The 
actual  character  of  a  constitutional  government  depends  less 
on  the  words  of  its  constitution  than  on  the  interpretation 

20  which  they  receive.  It  was  not  the  Constitution  as  drawn 
up  by  its  framers,  but  the  Constitution  as  interpreted  by 
its  judges,  which  the  greatest  Englishman  of  modern  times 
described  as  the  most  perfect  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given 
time  by  the  mind  of  man.  Marshall  found  a  plan,  he  placed 

25  it  in  effective  operation  ;  he  found  certain  declarations  in 
favor  of  individual  safety,  he  made  them  the  panoply  of 
individual  rights ;  he  found  a  written  Constitution,  he  made  it 
a  constitutional  government. 

8.  In  fixing  the  credit  due  to  Marshall's  judicial  career  it  is 

30  not  necessary  to  belittle  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  the  .men 
who  wrote  the  Constitution.  No  structure  can  be  stronger  than 
its  foundation:  John  Marshall  could  never  have  raised  the 
Supreme  Court  from  the  weakness  in  which  he  found  it  to  the 
power  and  majesty  in  which  he  left  it,  if  the  Constitution  had 


COCKRAN  285 

not  afforded  him  an  adequate  field  for  the  fullest  exercise  of 
his  constructive  genius. 

9.  It  would  be  superfluous,  in  this  presence,  to  discuss  or 
even  to  mention  the  long  series  of  decisions  through  which  he 
made  the  promises  of  freedom  embraced  in  the  Constitution    5 
actual  possessions  of  the  American  people.    It  is  enough  to  say 
that  during  his  judicial  service  of  thirty-four  years,  in  deciding 
many  controversies  arising  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  he  suc 
ceeded  in  establishing  four  great  principles  which  underlie  our 
whole  constitutional  system  and  which  constitute  its  main  sup-  10 
port :   first,  the  supremacy  of  the  national  government  over 
the  states  and  all  their  inhabitants;   second,  the  supremacy 

of  the  Constitution  over  every  department  of  government ; 
third,  the  absolute  freedom  of  trade  and  intercourse  between 
all  the  states;  fourth,  the  inviolability  of  private  contracts.  15 

10.  It  is  true  that  these  principles  are  now  regarded  as  axioms 
of  civilized  society  too  obvious  to  be  questioned  in  a  nation 
capable  of  constitutional  government,  but  the  universal  respect 
in  which  they  are  held  is  entirely  due  to  the  courage,  resolution, 
and  ability  with  which  Marshall  asserted  and  maintained  them.  20 
If  no  attempt  to  violate  them  had  ever  been  made  by  the 
states  or  by  Congress,  no  occasion  would  have  arisen  for  the 
decisions  which  vindicate  them  so  clearly  that  no  respectable 
authority  can  now  be  found  to  challenge  them.    It  is  true,  as 
the  distinguished  chairman  of  this  banquet  says,  that  the  suprem-  25 
acy  of  the  Constitution  over  Congress  and  the  Executive  was 
asserted  by  Judge  Paterson  in  a  charge  to  a  jury  delivered  long 
before  Marshall  assumed  the  ermine.    It  is  equally  true  that  at 

a  still  earlier  period  —  in  1788  —  Alexander  Hamilton  devoted 
a  number  of  the  Federalist —  I  think  it  was  the  seventy- eighth  30 
—  to  proving  that  it  was  the  right  and  duty  of  the  Judiciary  to 
set  aside  a  law  which  contravened  the  Constitution.  Indeed,  I 
believe  the  principle  had  been  asserted  in  some  of  the  colonies 
before  the  Revolution.  But,  Mr.  Chairman,  there  is  nothing 


286        MARSHALL  AND   THE   CONSTITUTION 

new  under  the  sun.  Marshall  did  not  Discover  or  establish  any 
new  principle  of  liberty,  nor  did  this  Constitution  embrace  one, 
but  Marshall  did  devise  an  effective  plan  for  making  declara 
tions  of  ancient  principles  practical  features  of  civil  government. 
5  Man  can  no  more  invent  a  new  principle  than  he  can  invent 
a  new  force.  The  limit  of  human  ingenuity  is  exhausted  when 
new  devices  are  found  for  utilizing  forces  which  are  eternal. 
The  force  which  moves  the  steam  engine  existed  since  the  begin 
ning  of  the  world,  but  it  never  was  available  for  the  use  of  man 
10  till  Watt  devised  an  effective  machine.  Liberty  was  always  an 
aspiration  to  cherish,  but  never  till  Marshall  made  this  Consti 
tution  effective  did  liberty  become  a  possession  to  enjoy. 

1 1 .  Marshall  brought  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitu 
tion  the  love  of  a  patriot,  the  wisdom  of  a  statesman,  and  the 

15  ardor  of  a  partisan.  He  had  followed  the  debates  of  its  framers 
in  Philadelphia ;  he  had  successfully  urged  its  adoption  in  the 
Virginia  Convention  against  the  eloquence  and  overshadowing 
authority  of  Patrick  Henry.  Every  peril  which  it  escaped  in 
the  progress  of  its  evolution,  every  criticism  of  its  provisions, 

20  every  apprehension  expressed  of  its  operations,  were  signal 
lights  warning  him  of  dangers  which  threatened  it  and  suggest 
ing  possibilities  of  further  development  which  in  after  years  he 
improved  to  the  utmost. 

12.  In  the  very  general  disposition  to  treat  the  Constitution 
25  as  a  mere   treaty  between  independent  sovereignties,  which 

might  be  disregarded  at  pleasure  by  any  of  them,  he  discerned 
a  danger  against  which  he  warned  his  countrymen  from  the 
judgment  seat  almost  as  soon  as  he  ascended  it.  From  1804, 
in  the  case  of  the  United  States  against  Fisher,  to  the  last  day 
30  of  his  service,  he  never  missed  an  opportunity  to  assert  the 
supremacy  of  the  federal  government  on  all  matters  com 
mitted  to  it  by  the  Constitution  as  the  vital  principle  of  our 
national  existence,  nor  to  show  by  irresistible  logic  that  to  ques 
tion  its  sovereignty  was  to  plot  its  destruction.  This  was  the 


COCKRAN  287 

doctrine  on  which  patriots  always  supported  the  Union  —  for 
which  Webster  contended  in  the  Senate,  for  which  armies 
battled  during  four  long  years,  and  which  was  finally  affirmed 
on  the  battlefield  when  the  sword  of  the  Confederacy  was  sur 
rendered  to  the  triumphant  forces  of  the  Republic.  5 

13.  In  the  opposition  expressed  in  the  Philadelphia  Con 
vention  to  establishing  United  States  courts  of  inferior  jurisdic 
tion  and  in  the  suggestion  that  the  enforcement  of  the  federal 
Constitution  and  laws  should  be  confided  to  the  state  courts, 
he  detected  a  disposition  to  emasculate  the  federal  Judiciary  10 
by  making  it  a  body  without  limbs,  and  when  occasion  arose 

in  1809  he  issued  that  mandamus  to  Judge  Peters  which  made 
the  subordinate  courts  of  the  United  States  the  vigorous  and 
effective  hands  of  the  Constitution  —  enforcing  its  provisions  in 
every  locality,  bringing  the  federal  law  to  the  doorway  of  the  15 
citizen,  maintaining  the  supremacy  of   the  United  States   in 
every  square  foot  of  their  territory  —  without  interfering  with 
the  power  of  the  state  to  deal  with  matters  concerning  itself  and 
its  own  citizens,  except  to  administer  its  justice  according  to 
its  own  laws  when  they  were  invoked  by  a  stranger  against  a  20 
resident.    And  when  in  the  subsequent  case  of  Hunter's  Lessee 
he  established  the  right  of  the  Supreme  Court  to  review  any 
proceedings  of  a  state  tribunal  which  involved  a  question  arising 
under  the  laws  or  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  he  con 
verted  the  state  courts  from  possible  obstacles  to  federal  author-  25 
ity  into  additional  agencies  for  the  enforcement  of  federal  laws. 

14.  In  the  proposal  so  strongly  urged  in  the  Philadelphia 
Convention  to  empower  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  to 
advise  the  legislative  and  the  executive  departments  in  the  dis 
charge  of  their  functions  he  detected  an  apprehension  that  under  30 
a  republican  form  of  government  parliamentary  bodies  and 
executive  officers  might  be  carried  to  excesses  by  violent  gusts 

of  popular  opinion,  and  in  the  case  of  Marbury  against  Madison 
he  quieted  that  distrust  forever  by  assuming  for  the  Judiciary 


288        MARSHALL  AND   THE   CONSTITUTION 

the  right  and  the  duty  to  enforce  the  Constitution  against  any 
attempt  to  invade  it  by  any  other  department,  or  by  all  the  other 
departments  of  government  combined,  on  the  complaint  of  any 
citizen  whose  rights  might  be  imperiled  by  the  encroachment. 
5  15.  Freedom  of  trade  between  the  states  was  secured  when 
in  Gibbons  against  Ogden  the  jurisdiction  of  the  federal  gov 
ernment  was  established  over  the  navigable  waters  of  the  United 
States,  whether  inland  rivers  or  harbors  of  the  sea,  and  when  in 

the  subsequent  case  of  Brown  against  the  State  of  Maryland 

10  which  might  be  called  the  original  "  original  package  case  " —  it 
was  held  that  the  state  had  no  power  to  impose  any  tax  or  duty 
by  way  of  license  or  other  pretext  upon  the  products  of  other 
states  seeking  access  to  its  markets.  To  these  and  the  subse 
quent  decisions  constituting  the  body  of  law  governing  inter- 
15  state  commerce  we  are  indebted  for  the  profound  peace  which 
reigns  between  the  states ;  for  if  one  state  had  been  allowed 
to  impose  discriminations  in  matters  of  trade  or  communication 
against  the  citizens  of  another,  each  imposition  would  have  been 
followed  by  reprisals  leading  in  turn  to  fresh  retaliatory  meas- 
20  ures,  until  a  state  of  commercial  war  would  have  been  the  nor 
mal  relation  between  all  the  states.  It  is  the  history  of  human 
ity  that  a  conflict  of  interests  is  usually  followed  by  a  conflict 
of  arms. 

1 6.  The  Dartmouth  College  case,  which  established  the  invio- 
25  lability  of  contracts,  was  an  industrial  bill  of  rights  to  the  people 
of  this  country.  It  has  proved  the  very  fountain  of  the  prosper 
ity  which  they  have  achieved  and  of  the  greater  prosperity  which 
awaits  them.  While  the  whole  industrial  activity  of  man  depends 
upon  his  belief  in  the  fulfillment  of  contracts,  there  is  often  a 
30  strong  tendency  in  legislatures  and  governments  to  repudiate 
debts  or  obstruct  their  collection.  When,  therefore,  Marshall 
placed  the  obligation  of  contracts  beyond  the  power  of  any 
state  to  disturb,  he  made  the  industry  of  this  country  the  most 
prosperous  in  the  world  by  making  its  fruits  the  most  secure. 


COCKRAN  289 

17.  If  I  were  to  summarize  Marshall's  service  I  should  say 
that  on  the  solid  foundation  of  the  Constitution  he  made  power, 
justice,  peace,  and  prosperity  the  four  great  pillars  of  our  gov 
ernmental  system :   power  by  establishing  the  sovereignty  of 
the  general  government  over   the  states,  thus  making  it  the    5 
strongest  nation  in  the  world  ;  justice  by  establishing  the  domin 
ion  of  the  Constitution  over  all  the  departments  of  the  gov 
ernment  ;  peace  by  establishing  freedom  of  intercourse  between 
all  the  states;  prosperity  by  establishing  the  inviolability  of  pri 
vate  contracts.    The  decisions  of  Marshall's  successors,  without  10 
disturbing  these  pillars,  have  strengthened  them,  and  the  stately 
fabric  of  government  which  they  support. 

1 8.  The  stability  of  the  Union  has  been  secured  as  much  by 
forbearance  in  refusing  to  exercise  powers  not  properly  belong 
ing  to  it  as  by  firmness  in  enforcing  those  essential  to  its  ex-  15 
istence.    The  inviolability  of  contracts  has  not  been  allowed 

to  pervert  franchises  granted  for  the  public  convenience  into 
monopolies  beyond  the  power  of  the  state  to  control.  The  right 
of  every  citizen  to  trade,  move,  or  labor  everywhere  throughout 
the  whole  territory  of  the  United  States  on  equal  terms  with  all  20 
others  has  not  been  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  right  of  each 
state  to  protect  health,  order,  and  morals  within  its  limits,  the 
only  restriction  on  its  police  power  being  the  requirement  that 
every  exercise  of  it  must  apply  equally  to  citizen  and  stranger 
under  its  jurisdiction.  25 

19.  It  is  perhaps  the  most  extraordinary  feature  of  our  polit 
ical  system,  as  it  is  the  most  impressive  tribute  to  Marshall's 
genius,  that  the  power  of  the  Judiciary — now  unquestioned  —  to 
fix  the  limits  of  its  own  authority  and  the  authority  of  all  other 
departments  rests  not  upon  any  specific  provision  of  the  Con-  30 
stitution,  but  on  a  principle  of  construction  first  announced 
authoritatively  in  the  case  of  Marbury  against  Madison.    The 
approval  bestowed  on  that  momentous  decision  and  on  every 
subsequent  amplification  of  its  doctrine  has  been  so  universal 


290        MARSHALL  AND   THE   CONSTITUTION 

that  the  judicial  department  has  been  encouraged  to  extend  the 
buckler  of  its  authority  over  an  ever-widening  field,  until  it  has 
become  the  dominant  force  in  our  national  life  —  the  one  ele 
ment  which  through  all  our  existence  has  steadily  grown  in  power 
5  and  beneficence.    Never  has  the  Supreme  Court  exercised  its 
supreme  power  of  setting  aside  a  law  of  Congress  or  of  a  state 
that  the  people  did  not  sustain  its  course  with  substantial  una 
nimity.    With  the  exception  of  the  Eleventh  Amendment,  there 
is  not  in  the  history  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  state,  a  single 
10  instance  in  which  the  people  consented  to  a  constitutional  pro 
vision  limiting  the  power  of  the  Judiciary,  while  the  tendency 
everywhere  has  always  been  to  enlarge  it.    While  this  respect 
for  the  Judiciary  remains  a  conspicuous  feature  of  our  national 
life,  no  peril  to  our  institutions  can  ever  become  serious.    Where 
15  parliament  is  supreme,  corruption  of  legislative  bodies  under 
mines  the  life  of  the  whole  State,   for  when  the  omnipotent 
source  of  power  itself  becomes  corrupt,  all  the  streams  which 
flow  from  it  must  be  tainted,  and  laws  springing  from  greed 
are  sure  to  be  administered  for  the  plunder  and  oppression  of 
20  the  people.    Under  such  conditions  industry  languishes,  pros 
perity  withers,   civilization   itself  is  imperiled.    But  under  our 
democratic  government  the  right  of  the  citizen  to  come  and  go 
as  he  pleases,  the  right  to  enjoy  his  property,  to  exchange  the 
product  of  his  industry  against  the  commodities  produced  by 
25  others,  depend  not  upon  the  honesty  of  the  legislature,  or  the 
loyalty  of  the  executive,  but  upon  the  virtue  and  independence 
of  the  Judiciary.    If  corruption  exists  in  this  country,  it  can  only 
affect  the  bestowal  of  favors  by  the  government;  it  cannot 
endanger  the  life,  liberty,  or  property  of  a  single  individual. 
30  There   may  be  partiality  —  corruption,    if  you  will  —  in   the 
bestowal  of  public  franchises,  of  public  offices,  and  of  public  con 
tracts,  but  while  there  is  none  in  the  administration  of  justice, 
while  the  courts  remain  true  to  the  example  and  precepts  of 
Marshall,  all  the  essential  rights  of  the  citizen  are  as  secure  as 


COCKRAN 


291 


the  earth  under  his  feet,  they  can  no  more  be  invaded  than  the 
stars  in  heaven  can  be  blotted  from  his  gaze. 

20.  One  hundred  years  after  the  establishment  of  our  Con 
stitution,  what  purpose  expressed  in  its  preamble  remains  to 
be  accomplished  —  what  hope  cherished  by  its  framers  is  un-    5 
fulfilled?    I  know  of  none.    Look  around  you  and  tell  me  if 
this  be  an  idle  boast.    Has  not  the  Union  been  made  perfect 
through  the  wisdom  of  the  great  magistrate  who  showed  its 
necessity  and  the  blood  of  the  heroes  who  cemented  it  ?    Is  not 
justice  firmly  established  by  the  unquestioned  dominion  of  the  10 
Constitution?  Is  not  domestic  tranquillity  absolutely  insured 
since  perfect  freedom  of  intercourse  and   trade  removes  all 
provocation  to  hostile  acts  or  feelings  between  the  states?    Is 
not  the  common  defense  abundantly  provided  for  by  the  over 
whelming  strength  of  a  populous  nation  whose  every  inhabit-  15 
ant  would  die  for  the  integrity  of  its  soil  and  the  glory  of  its 
flag?    Has  not  the  general  welfare  been  promoted  beyond  the 
wildest   hopes  of  the  fathers   since  the  security  of  property 
encourages  industry  to  wring  measureless  abundance  from  a 
fruitful  soil?    Are  not  the  blessings  of  liberty  secured  for  our-  20 
selves  and  our  posterity  beyond  fear  of  invasion  or  danger  of 
abridgment  by  the  effective  protection  which  the  Judiciary  casts 
over  the  essential  rights  of  every  citizen? 

2 1 .  Looking  back  over  the  history  of  this  country  I  cannot 
entertain  a  doubt  of  its  security  or  of  its  future.    While  the  25 
judicial  department  remains  the  depository  of  our  rights  and 
liberties,  —  the  ark  of  our  political  covenant,  —  while  the  courts 
remain  the  inviolable  sanctuary  of  justice,   the   Constitution 
will  remain  the  secure  foundation  of  the  principles  established 
by  Marshall,  and  this  government  will  continue  to  be  the  tern-  30 
pie  of  freedom,  the  bulwark  of  order,  the  light  of  progress,  the 
supreme  monument  of  what  man  has  achieved,  the  inspiring 
promise  of  the  boundless  future  that  awaits  him. 


INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

CARL  SCHURZ 

AN    ADDRESS    DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE     AMERICAN     CONFERENCE 

ON    INTERNATIONAL    ARBITRATION    HELD    IN    WASHINGTON,    DIS 
TRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  APRIL  22,  1896. 

INTRODUCTION 

W/,     ,'y    jf  ^ 

Carl  Schurz,  statesman,  journalist,  orator,  and  publicist,  was 
born  at  Liblar,  Prussia,  March  2,  1829.  While  a  student  at  the 
University  of  Bonn,  in  1849,  he  participated  in  a  student  insurrec 
tion  against  governmental  absolutism  and  for  German  unification, 
and  took  part  in  the  defense  of  Rastatt,  a  fortified  town  of  Baden, 
then  occupied  by  the  Revolutionary  party.  On  the  surrender  of 
that  fortress  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned,  but  escaped  to 
Switzerland.  In  1852  he  came  to  America,  resided  three  years  in 
Philadelphia,  and  then  settled  in  Watertown,  Wisconsin.  In  1859 
he  removed  to  Milwaukee,  where  he  practiced  law.  He  soon  became 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  newly  founded  Republican  party,  and  was 
a  prominent  speaker  for  Lincoln  during  the  presidential  campaign 
of  ,1860.  In  1 86 1  President  Lincoln  appointed  him  Minister  to 
Spain.  Resigning  that  office  to  enter  the  Union  army,  he  served 
at  Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg,  Chattanooga,  and  other  battles, 
leaving  the  army  with  rank  of  major  general.  After  the  war  he 
settled  at  St.  Louis,  and  from  1869  to  1875  he  represented  Mis 
souri  in  the  United  States  Senate,  beginning  there  the  work  for 
the  reform  of  the  civil  service  which  did  so  much  to  force  the  Liberal 
Republican  movement  of  1872  and  the  even  more  decisive  "mug 
wump  "  revolt  of  1884.  Mr.  Schurz  removed  to  New  York  City  in 
1875.  From  1877  to  1881  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  retiring 
to  devote  himself  to  journalism  and  literature.  In  1881-1883  he 
edited  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  and  thereafter  was  a  writer 
and  speaker  on  various  public  questions.  In  1 892,  on  the  death  of 

293 


294  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

George  William  Curtis,  he  was  made  president  of  the  National 
Civil  Service  Reform  Association.  On  March  2,  1899,  his  seven 
tieth  birthday  was  celebrated  at  Delmonico's,  New  York  City,  by  a 
complimentary  dinner  which  was  attended  by  many  of  the  nation's 
most  prominent  men.  He  died  May  14,  1906. 

For   fifty  years   Mr.  Schurz    wielded   an  influence  over  public 
opinion  in  this  country,  especially  among  German- American  citi 
zens,  that  it  would  be  hard  to  overestimate.    And  this  in  spite  of 
bitter   political   opposition.     In   politics   he   was   always    a   con 
servative    independent,    opposing    any    tendency    that    seemingly 
threatened   the  cause    of   individual   liberty  which   he   espoused 
in  his  native  country.    Though  usually  favoring   the  principles 
and  policies  of  the  Republican  party,  his  political  influence  and 
appointments  were  won  by  sheer  force  of  ability  and  statesman 
ship.    His  attitude  on  political  questions  was  that  of  the  states 
man  rather   than  that  of   the   mere  politician.     He   never  spoke 
solely  for  any  party,  and  never  had  any  party  behind  him.    He 
supported  Horace  Greeley  for  President  in   1872,  and  as  one  of 
the  leaders  of   the  "mugwump"   movement  in   1884  he  helped 
indirectly  to  elect  President  Cleveland.    As  United  States  Senator 
he  opposed  many  of  the  principal  measures  of  Grant's  adminis 
tration.    Against  the  bitter  partisanry  of  the  Republican  majority, 
in  dealing  with  the  problems  of  Reconstruction,  he  stood  for  a 
just  and  generous  policy.    In  1872  he  delivered  a  notable  speech 
in  the  Senate,  favoring  a  policy  of  general  amnesty  toward  the 
South  and  urging  the  removal  of  all  political  disabilities  imposed 
by  the  third  section  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Consti 
tution.     For  cogency  of  reasoning,  keen  insight  into  the  motives 
and  springs  of  human  action,  and  persuasive  appeal  to  the  nobler 
sentiments  of  his  hearers,  this  speech  stands  out  in  marked  contrast 
to  much  of  the  coarse  and  brutal  haranguing  of  that  period.    In 
concluding  this  speech,  he  said: 

"  I  would  not  have  the  past  forgotten,  but  I  would  have  its  his 
tory  completed  and  crowned  by  an  act  most  worthy  of  a  great, 
noble,  and  wise  people.  ...  I  do  not,  indeed,  indulge  in  the  delu 
sion  that  this  act  alone  will  remedy  all  the  evils  which  we  now 
deplore.  No,  it  will  not ;  but  it  will  be  a  powerful  appeal  to  the 
very  best  instincts  and  impulses  of  human  nature ;  it  will,  like  a 
warm  ray  of  sunshine  in  springtime,  quicken  and  call  to  light  the 
germs  of  good  intention  wherever  they  exist;  it  will  give  new 


SCHURZ  295 

courage,  confidence,  and  inspiration  to  the  well-disposed;  it  will 
weaken  the  power  of  the  mischievous  by  stripping  off  their  pretexts 
and  exposing  in  their  nakedness  the  wicked  designs  they  still  may 
cherish ;  it  will  light  anew  the  beneficent  glow  of  fraternal  feeling 
and  of  national  spirit ;  for,  Sir,  your  good  sense  as  well  as  your 
heart  must  tell  you  that  when  this  is  truly  a  people  of  citizens  equal 
in  their  political  rights,  it  will  then  be  easier  to  make  it  also  a  people 
of  brothers." 

At  the  celebration  of  Mr.  Schurz's  seventieth  birthday,  previously 
mentioned,  Honorable  Moorfield  Storey,  of  Boston,  said : 

"  Mr.  Schurz  brought  into  the  Senate  a  fresh  moral  force,  and 
as  we  read  his  speeches  we  cannot  fail  to  recognize  with  fresh 
admiration  the  unvarying  wisdom,  the  far-seeing  statesmanship, 
the  unflinching  courage,  the  high  purpose,  with  which  he  met 
them  all.  The  singular  clearness  of  statement,  which  has  never 
deserted  him,  his  wonderful  command  of  English,  the  unfailing 
calmness  and  dignity  with  which  he  encountered  and  returned  the 
attacks  of  his  opponents,  made  him  the  first  debater  in  the  Senate, 
and  an  orator  second  to  none.  But  he  never  descended  to  any 
thing  unworthy,  and  you  may  search  his  speeches  in  vain  for  any 
appeal  to  low  motive,  for  any  trace  of  thought  for  his  personal 
fortunes." 

Mr.  Schurz  may  properly  be  considered  as  one  of  the  foremost 
American  orators.  As  a  speaker  he  was  noted  for  his  plainness  and 
directness.  Except  a  slight  accent  in  delivery,  there  was  nothing 
about  his  speaking  for  which  he  had  to  claim  indulgence.  His  style 
is  unornamented  and  businesslike  ;  yet  in  spite  of  their  lack  of  the 
poetical  quality  his  speeches  have  done  much  to  make  American 
history.  "  But,"  says  Reverend  Richard  S.  Storrs  in  one  of  his 
speeches,  "  no  discourse  that  he  can  utter,  however  brilliant  in 
rhetoric  ;  no  analysis,  however  lucid  ;  no  clear  and  comprehensive 
sweep  of  his  thought,  though  expressed  in  words  which  ring  in  our 
ears  and  live  in  our  memories,  can  so  fully  and  fittingly  illustrate 
to  us  the  progress  of  liberal  ideas  as  does  the  man  himself,  in  his 
character  and  career  —  an  Old- World  citizen  of  the  American 
Republic  whose  marvelous  mastery  of  our  tough  English  tongue  is 
still  surpassed  by  his  more  marvelous  mastery  over  the  judgments 
and  the  hearts  of  those  who  hear  him  use  it." 

The  following  speech  was  selected  by  Mr.  Schurz  himself  as 
representing  a  subject  of  present  interest,  and  as  one  of  the  best 


296  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

of  his  later  addresses.  It  was  delivered  before  a  body  of  distin 
guished  men,  and  the  invitation  extended  Mr.  Schurz  to  address 
them  was  a  deserved  recognition  of  the  speaker's  authority  on  the 
question  of  international  arbitration. 

1.  MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONFERENCE  :  I 
have  been  honored  with  the  request  that  I  should  address  you 
on  the  desirableness  of  arbitration  as  a  method   of  settling 
international  disputes.    To  show  that  arbitration  is  preferable 

5  to  war  should  be,  among  civilized  people,  as  superfluous  as  to 
show  that  to  refer  disputes  between  individuals  or  associations 
to  courts  of  justice  is  better  than  to  refer  them  to  single  com 
bat  or  to  street  fights,  —  in  one  word,  that  the  ways  of  civiliza 
tion  are  preferable  to  those  of  barbarism.  Neither  is  there  any 

10  doubt  as  to  the  practicability  of  international  arbitration.  What 
seemed  an  idealistic  dream  in  Hugo  Grotius's  time,  is  now 
largely  an  established  practice  :  no  longer  an  uncertain  experi 
ment,  but  an  acknowledged  success.  In  this  century  not  less 
than  eighty  controversies  between  civilized  powers  have  been 

15  composed  by  arbitration.  And  more  than  that.  Every  interna 
tional  dispute  settled  by  arbitration  has  stayed  settled,  while  dur 
ing  the  same  period  some  of  the  results  of  great  wars  have  not 
stayed  settled,  and  others  are  unceasingly  drawn  in  question, 
being  subject  to  the  shifting  preponderance  of  power.  And 

20  such  wars  have  cost  rivers  of  blood,  countless  treasure,  and 
immeasurable  misery,  while  arbitration  has  cost  comparatively 
nothing.  Thus  history  teaches  the  indisputable  lesson  that 
arbitration  is  not  only  the  most  human  and  economical  method 
of  settling  international  differences,  but  also  the  most,  if  not 

25  the  only,  certain  method  to  furnish  enduring  results. 

2.  As  to  the  part  war  has  played,  and  may  still  have  to  play, 
in  the  history  of  mankind,  I  do  not  judge  as  a  blind  sentimen 
talist.    I  readily  admit  that,  by  the  side  of  horrible  devasta 
tions  and  barbarous  cruelty,  great  arid  beneficent  things  have 

30  been  accomplished  by  means  of  war,  in  forming  nations  and  in 


SCHURZ  297 

spreading  and  establishing  the  rule  or  influence  of  the  capable 
and  progressive.  I  will  not  inquire  how  much  of  this  work  still 
remains  to  be  done,  and  what  place  war  may  have  in  it.  But 
surely,  among  the  civilized  nations  of  to-day  —  and  these  we 
are  considering  —  the  existing  conditions  of  intercourse  largely  5 
preclude  war  as  an  agency  for  salutary  objects.  The  steamship, 
the  railroad,  the  telegraph,  the  postal  union,  and  other  inter 
national  arrangements  facilitating  transportation  and  the  circu 
lation  of  intelligence  have  broken  down  many  of  the  barriers 
which  formerly  enabled  nations  to  lead  separate  lives,  and  have  10 
made  them,  in  those  things  which  constitute  the  agencies  of 
well-being  and  of  progressive  civilization,  in  a  very  high  degree 
dependent  upon  each  other.  And  this  development  of  common 
life  interests  and  mutual  furtherance,  mental  as  well  as  material, 
still  goes  on  in  continuous  growth.  Thus  a  war  between  civi-  15 
lized  nations  means  now  a  rupture  of  arteries  of  common  life- 
blood,  a  stoppage  of  the  agencies  of  common  well-being  and 
advancement,  a  waste  of  energies  serviceable  to  common  inter 
ests,  —  in  one  word,  a  general  disaster,  infinitely  more  serious 
than  in  times  _gone  by ;  and  it  is,  consequently,  now  an  infi-  20 
nitely  more  heinous  crime  against  humanity,  unless  not  only  the 
ends  it  is  to  serve  fully  justify  the  sacrifices  it  entails,  but  unless 
also  all  expedients  suggested  by  the  genius  of  peace  have  been 
exhausted  to  avert  the  armed  conflict. 

3.  Of  those  pacific  expedients,  when  ordinary  diplomatic  25 
negotiation  does  not  avail,  arbitration  has  proved  itself  most 
effective.    And  it  is  the  object  of  the  movement  in  which  we 
are  engaged,  to  make  the  resort  to  arbitration,  in  case  of  inter 
national  difficulty,  still  more  easy,  more  regular,  more  normal, 
more  habitual,  and  thereby  to  render  the  resort  to  war  more  30 
unnatural  and  more  difficult  than  heretofore. 

4.  In  this  movement  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  is 
the  natural  leader,  and  I  can  conceive  for  it  no  nobler  or  more 
beneficent  mission.    The  naturalness  of  this  leadership  is  owing 


298  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

to  its  peculiar  position  among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Look 
at  the  powers  of  the  Old  World,  how  each  of  them  is  uneasily 
watching  the  other ;  how  conflicting  interests  or  ambitions  are 
constantly  exciting  new  anxieties ;  how  they  are  all  armed  to 

5  the  teeth,  and  nervously  increasing  their  armaments,  lest  a 
hostile  neighbor  overmatch  them  ;  how  they  are  piling  expense 
upon  expense  and  tax  upon  tax  to  augment  their  instruments 
of  destruction ;  how,  as  has  been  said,  every  workingman 
toiling  for  his  daily  bread  has  to  carry  a  full-armed  soldier 

10  or  sailor  on  his  back;  and  how,  in  spite  of  those  bristling 
armaments,  their  sleep  is  unceasingly  troubled  by  dreams  of 
interest  threatened,  of  marches  stolen  upon  them,  of  com 
binations  hatched  against  them,  and  of  the  danger  of  some 
accident  breaking  the  precarious  peace  and  setting  those 

15  gigantic  and  exhausting  preparations  in  motion  for  the  work 
of  ravage  and  ruin. 

5.  And  then  look  at  this  Republic,  stronger  than  any  nation 
in  Europe  in  the  number,  intelligence,  vigor,  and  patriotism 
of  its  people,  and  in  the  unparalleled  abundance  of  its  barely 

20  broached  resources  ;  resting  with  full  security  in  its  magnificent 
domain  ;  standing  safely  aloof  from  the  feuds  of  the  Old  World ; 
substantially  unassailable  in  its  great  continental  stronghold ; 
no  dangerous  neighbors  threatening  its  borders ;  no  outlying 
and  exposed  possessions  to  make  it  anxious;  the  only  great 

25  power  in  the  world  seeing  no  need  of  keeping  up  vast  standing 
armaments  on  land  or  sea  to  maintain  its  peace  or  to  protect 
its  integrity;  its  free  institutions  making  its  people  the  sole 
master  of  its  destinies ;  and  its  best  political  traditions  pointing 
to  a  general  policy  of  peace  and  good  will  among  men.  What 

30  nation  is  there  better  fitted  to  be  the  champion  of  this  cause 
of  peace  and  good  will  than  this,  so  strong  although  unarmed, 
and  so  entirely  exempt  from  any  imputation  of  the  motive  of 
fear  or  of  selfish  advantage  ?  Truly,  this  Republic  with  its  power 
and  its  opportunities  is  the  pet  of  destiny. 


SCHURZ 


299 


6.  As  an  American  citizen  I  cannot  contemplate  this  noble 
peace  mission  of  my  country  without  a  thrill  of  pride.  And  I 
must  confess,  it  touches  me  like  an  attack  upon  the  dignity  of 
this  Republic  when  I  hear  Americans  repudiate  that  peace  mis 
sion  upon  the  ground  of  supposed  interests  of  the  United  States,  5 
requiring  for  their  protection  or  furtherance  preparation  for 
warlike  action  and  the  incitement  of  a  fighting  spirit  among 
our  people.  To  judge  from  the  utterances  of  some  men  having 
the  public  ear,  we  are  constantly  threatened  by  the  evil  designs 
of  rival  or  secretly  hostile  powers  that  are  eagerly  watching  10 
every  chance  to  humiliate  our  self-esteem,  to  insult  our  flag,  to 
balk  our  policies,  to  harass  our  commerce,  and  even  to  threaten 
our  independence,  and  putting  us  in  imminent  danger  of  dis 
comfiture  of  all  sorts,  unless  we  stand  with  sword  in  hand  in 
sleepless  watch,  and  cover  the  seas  with  war  ships,  and  picket  15 
the  islands  of  every  ocean  with  garrisoned  outposts,  and  sur 
round  ourselves  far  and  near  with  impregnable  fortresses.  What 
a  poor  idea  those  indulging  in  such  talk  have  of  the  true  posi 
tion  of  their  country  among  the  nations  of  the  world  ! 

7.JV  little  calm  reflection  will  convince  every  unprejudiced  20 
mind  that  there  is  not  a  single  power,  nor  even  an  imaginable 
combination  of  powers,  on  the  face  of  the  globe  that  can  wish 
-I  might  almost  say  that  can  afford  —  a  serious  quarrel  with 
the   United  States.    There  are  very  simple  reasons  for  this. 
War  in  our  days  is  not  a  mere  matter  of  military  skill,  nor  even  25 
—  as  it  would  certainly  not  be  in  our  case  —  a  mere  matter 
of  preparation  for  the  first  onset.    It  is  a  matter  of  material 
resources,  of  reserves,  of  staying  power.    Now,  considering  that  ' 
in  all  these  respects  our  means  are  substantially  inexhaustible, 
and  that  the  patriotic  spirit  and  the  extraordinary  ingenuity  of  30 
our  people  would  greatly  aid  their  development  in  the  progress 
of  a  conflict ;  considering  that,  however  grievous  might  be  the 
injuries  which  a  strong  hostile  navy  could  inflict  upon  us  at 
the  beginning  of  a  war,  it  could  not  touch  a  vital  point,  as  on 


300  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

land  we  would  be  immensely  superior  to  any  army  that  could 
be  brought  upon  our  shores ;  considering  that  thus  a  war  with 
the  United  States,  as  a  test  of  endurance,  would,  so  far  as  our 
staying  power  is  concerned,  be  a  war  of  indefinite  duration; 
5  considering  all  these  things,  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  no 
European  power  can  engage  in  such  a  conflict  with  us,  without 
presenting  to  its  rivals  in  the  Old  World  the  most  tempting 
opportunity  for  hostile  action.  And  no  European  power  will 
do  this,  unless  forced  by  extreme  necessity.  For  the  same 
10  reason,  no  European  power  will,  even  if  it  were  so  inclined, 
insist  upon  doing  anything  injurious  to  our  interests  that  might 
lead  to  a  war  with  the  United  States.  We  may  therefore  depend 
upon  it  with  absolute  assurance  that,  whether  we  are  armed  or 
not,  no  European  power  will  seek  a  quarrel  with  us ;  that,  on 
15  the  contrary,  they  will  avoid  such  a  quarrel  with  the  utmost 
care ;  that  we  cannot  have  a  war  with  any  of  them,  unless  we 
wantonly  and  persistently  seek  such  a  war ;  and  that  they  will 
respect  our  rights  and  comply  with  our  demands,  if  just  and 
proper,  in  the  way  of  friendly  agreement. 

20       8.  If  anybody  doubts  this,  let  him  look  at  a  recent  occur 
rence.    The    alarmists    about    the    hostility   to  us    of   foreign 
powers  usually  have  Great  Britain  in  their  minds.    I  am  very 
sure  President  Cleveland,  when  he  wrote  his  Venezuela  mes 
sage,  did  not  mean  to  provoke  a  war  with  Great  Britain.    But 
25  the  language  of  that  message  might  have  been  construed  as 
such  a  provocation,  by  anybody  inclined  to  do  so.   Had  Great 
Britain  wished  a  quarrel  with  us,  here  was  a  tempting  oppor- 
'  tunity.    Everybody  knew  that  we  had  but  a  small  navy,  an 
insignificant  standing  army,  and  no  coast  defenses;   and  in 
30  fact  we  were  entirely  unprepared  for  a  conflict.    The  public 
opinion  of  Europe,  too,  was  against  us.    What  did  the  British 
government  do?    It  did  not  avail  itself  of  that  opportunity. 
It  did  not  resent  the  language  of  that  message.    On  the  con 
trary,  the  Queen's  speech  from  the  throne  gracefully  turned 


SCHURZ  301 

that  message  into  an  "  expression  of  willingness  "  op  the  part 
of  .the  United  States  to  cooperate  with  Great  Britain  in  the 
adjustment  of  the  Venezuela  boundary  dispute. 

9.  It  has  been  said  that  the  -conciliatory  mildness  of  this 
turn  was  owing  to  the  impression  produced  in  England  by  the    5 
German  Emperor's  congratulatory  dispatch  to  the  President 

of  the  South  African  Republic.  If  the  two  things  were  so 
connected,  it  would  prove  what  I  have  said,  that  even  the 
strongest  European  government  will  be  deterred  from  a  quarrel 
with  the  United  States  by  the  opportunities  which  such  a  10 
quarrel  would  open  to  its  rivals.  If  the  two  things  were  not 
so  connected,  it  would  prove  that  even  the  strongest  European 
power  will  under  any  circumstances  go  to  very  great  lengths 
in  the  way  of  conciliation,  to  remain  on  friendly  terms  with 
this  Republic.  '  15 

10.  In  the  face  of  these  indisputable  facts,  we  hear  the 
hysterical  cries  of  the  alarmists,  who  scent  behind  every  rock 
or  bush  a  foreign  foe  standing  with  dagger  in  hand  ready  to 
spring  upon  us  and  to  rob  us  of  our  valuables  if  not  to  kill  us 
outright,  or  at  least  making  faces  at  us  or  insulting  the  stars  20 
and  stripes.    Is  not  this  constant  and  eager  looking  for  danger 

or  insult  where  neither  exists,  very  like  that  melancholy  form 
of  insanity  called  persecution  mania,  which  is  so  extremely 
distressing  to  the  sufferers  and  their  friends  ?    We  may  heartily ""/ 
commiserate  the  unfortunate  victims  of  so  dreadful  an  afflic-  25 
tion ;  but  surely  the  American  people  should  not  take  such 
morbid  hallucinations  as  a  reason  for  giving  up  that  inesti 
mable  blessing  of  not  being  burdened  with  large  armaments, 
and  for  embarking  upon  a  policy  of  warlike  preparation  and 
bellicose  bluster.  30 

11.  It  is  a  little  less  absurd  in  sound,  but  not  in  sense,  when 
people  say  that  instead  of  trusting  in  our  position  as  the  great 
peace  power,  we  must  at  least  have  plenty  of  war  ships  to 
"show  our  flag"  everywhere,  and  to  impress  foreign  nations 


302  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

with  our  strength,  to  the  end  of  protecting  and  developing  our 
maritime  commerce.  Granting  that  we  should  have  a  sufficient 
naval  force  for  our  share  of  police  work  on  the  seas,  would  a 
large  armament  be  required  on  account  of  our  maritime  trade  ? 
5  Let  us  see.  Fifty  years  ago,  as  the  official  statistics  of  "  the 
value  of  foreign  trade  carried  in  American  and  foreign  vessels  " 
show,  nearly  eighty-two  per  cent  of  that  trade  was  carried  on 
in  American  vessels.  Between  1847  and  1861  the  percentage 
fell  to  sixty-five.  Then  the  Civil  War  came,  at  the  close  of 

vo  which  American  bottoms  carried  only  twenty-eight  per  cent 
of  that  trade ;  and  now  we  carry  less  than  twelve  per  cent. 
During  the,  period  when  this  maritime  trade  rose  to  its  highest 
development,  we  had  no  naval  force  to  be  in  any  degree  com 
pared  with  those  of  the  great  European  powers.  Nor  did  we 

15  need  any  for  the  protection  of  our  maritime  commerce,  for 
no  foreign  power  molested  that  commerce.  In  fact,  since  the 
War  of  1812,  it  has  not  been  molested  by  anybody  so  as  to 
require  armed  protection,  except  during  the  Civil  War  by 
Confederate  cruisers.  The  harassment  ceased  again  when  the. 

20  Civil  War  ended,  but  our  merchant  shipping  on  the  high  seas 
continued  to  decline. 

12.  That  decline  was  evidently  not  owing  to  the  superiority 
of  other  nations  in  naval  armament.  It  was  coincident  with 
the  development  of  ocean  transportation  by  iron  steamships 

25  instead  of  wooden  sailing  ships.  The  wooden  sailing  ships  we 
had  in  plenty,  but  of  iron  steamships  we  have  only  a  few.  It 
appears,  therefore,  that  whatever  we  may  need  a  large  war 
fleet  for,  it  is  certainly  not  for  the  development  of  our  mari 
time  commerce.  To  raise  that  commerce  to  its  old  superiority 

30  again,  we  want  no  more  war  ships,  but  more  merchant  vessels. 
To  obtain  these"  we  need  a  policy  enabling  American  capital 
and  enterprise  to  compete  in  that  business  with  foreign  nations. 
And  to  make  such  a  policy  fruitful,  we  need,  above  all  things, 
peace.  And  we  shall  have  that  peace  so  long  as  we  abstain 


SCHURZ  303 

from  driving  some  foreign  power,  against  its  own  inclination, 
into  a  war  with  the  United  States. 

13.  Can  there  be  any  motive  other  than  the  absurd  ones 
mentioned  to  induce  us  to  provoke  such  a  war  ?    I  have  heard 

it  said  that  a  war  might  be  desirable  to  enliven  business  again.    5 
Would  not  that  be  as  wise  and  moral  as  a  proposition  to  burn 
down  our  cities  for  the  purpose  of  giving  the  masons  and  car 
penters  something  to  do?    Nay,  we  are  even  told  that  there 
are  persons  who  would  have  a  foreign  war  on  any  pretext,  no 
matter  with  whom,  to  the  end  of  bringing  on  a  certain  change  10 
in  our  monetary  policy.    But  the  thought  of  plotting  in  cold 
blood  to  break  the  peace  of  the  country,  and  to  send  thou 
sands  of  dur  youths  to  slaughter,  and  to  desolate  thousands  of 
American  homes,  for  an  object  of  internal  policy,  whatever  it 
may  be,  is  so  abominable,  so  ghastly,  so  appalling,  that  I  dis-  15 
miss  it  as  impossible  of  belief. 

14.  I  know,  however,  from  personal  experience,  of  some 
otherwise  honorable  and  sensible  men  who  wish  for  a  war  on 
sentimental  —  aye,   on    high  moral   grounds.    One   of   them, 
whom  I  much  esteem,  confessed  to  me  that  he  longed  for  a  war,  20 
if  not  with  England,  then  with  Spain  or  some  other  power,  as 
he  said,  "  to  lift  the  American  people  out  of  their  materialism 
and  to  awaken  once   more   that  heroic  spirit  which  moved 
young  Gushing  to  risk  his  life  in  blowing  up  the  Confederate 
steamer  Albemarle"    This,  when  I  heard  it,  fairly  took  my  25 
breath  away.  And  yet,  we  must  admit,  such  fanatical  confusion 

of  ideas  is  not  without  charm  to  some  of  our  high-spirited  ^ 
young  men.    But  what  a  mocking  delusion  it  is  !    To  lift  a 
people  out  of  materialism  by  war  !  Has  not  war  always  excited 
the  spirit  of  reckless  and  unscrupulous  speculation,  not  only  30 
while  it  was  going  on,  but  also  afterwards,  by  the  economic 
disorders  accompanying  and  outlasting  it?  Has  it  not  always 
stimulated    the   rapid   and   often   dishonest   accumulation   of 
riches  on  one  side,  while  spreading  and  intensifying  want  and 


304  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

misery  on  the  other?  Has  it  not  thus  always  had  a  tendency 
to  plunge  a  people  still  deeper  into  materialism?  Has  not 
every  great  war  left  a  dark  streak  of  demoralization  behind?' 
Has  it  not  thus  always  proved  dangerous  to  the  purity  of 
5  republican  governments?  Is  not  this  our  own  experience? 
And  as  to  awakening  the  heroic  spirit  —  does  it  not,  while  stir 
ring  noble  impulses  in  some,  excite  the  base  passions  in  others  ? 
And  do  not  the  young  Cushings  among  us  find  opportunities 
for  heroism  in  the  life  of  peace,  too?  Would  it  be  wise,  in  the 

10  economy  of  the  universe,  to  bring  on  a  war,  with  its  bloodshed 
and  devastation,  its  distress  and  mourning,  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  accommodating  our  young  braves  with  chances  for 
blowing  up  ships?  The  old  Roman  poet  tells  us  that  it  is 
sweet  and  glorious  to  die  for  one's  country.  It  is  noble,  indeed. 

15  But  to  die  on  the  battlefield  is  not  the  highest  achievement 
of  heroism.  To  live  for  a  good  cause  honestly,  earnestly,  un 
selfishly,  laboriously,  is  at  least  as  noble  and  heroic  as  to  die 
for  it,  and  usually  far  more  difficult. 

1^'  *  nave  seen  war-    I  nave  seen  it  with  its  glories  and 
20  horrors ;  with  its  noble  emotions  and  its  bestialities ;  with  its 
exaltations  and  triumphs,  and  its  unspeakable  miseries  and 
baneful  corruptions;  and  heard  flippant  talk  of  war,  as  if  it 
were  only  a  holiday  pastime  or  a  mere  athletic  sport.    We  are 
often  told  that  there  are  things  worse  than  war.    Yes,  but  not 
25  many.    He  deserves  the  curse  of  mankind  who,  in  the  exercise 
of  power,  forgets  that  war  should  be  only  the  very  last  resort, 
even  in  contending  for  a  just  and  beneficent  end,  after  all 
the  resources  of  peaceful  methods  are  thoroughly  exhausted. 
As  an  American,  proud  of  his  country  and  anxious  that  this 
30  Republic  should  prove  itself  equal  to  the  most  glorious  of  its 
^  opportunities,  I  cannot  but  denounce  as  a  wretched  fatuity 
that  so-called  patriotism  which  will  not  remember  that  we  are 
the  envy  of  the  whole  world  for  the  priceless  privilege  of  being 
exempt  from  the  oppressive  burden  of  warlike  preparations; 


SCHURZ  305 

which,  when  it  sees  other  nations  groaning  under  that  load, 
tauntingly  asks,  "  Why  do  you  not  disarm?"  and  then  insists 
that  the  American  people  too  shall  put  the  incubus  of  a  heavy 
armament  on  their  backs ;  and  which  would  drag  this  Repub 
lic  down  from  its  high  degree  of  the  championship  of  peace  5 
among  nations,  and  degrade  it  to  the  vulgar  level  of  the  bully 
ready  and  eager  for  a  fight. 

1 6.  We  hear  much  of  the  necessity  of  an  elaborate  sys 
tem  of  coast  fortifications  to  protect  our  seaports  from  assault. 
How  far  such  system  may  be  desirable,  I  will  not  here  discuss.  10 
But  I  am  confident  our  strongest,  most  effective,  most  trust 
worthy,  and  infinitely  the  cheapest  coast  defense  will  consist 

in  "  Fort  Justice,"  "  Fort  Good  Sense,"  "  Fort  Self-respect," 
"  Fort  Good  Will,"  and  if  international  differences  really  do 
arise,  "  Fort  Arbitration*."  15 

17.  Let  no  one  accuse  me  of  resorting  to  the  claptrap  of 
the  stump  speech  in  discussing  this  grave  subject.    I  mean 
exactly  what  I  say,  and  am  solemnly  in  earnest.    This  Republic 
can  have  no  other  armament  so  effective  as  the  weapons  of 
peace.    Its  security,  its  influence,  its  happiness,  and  its  glory  20 
will   be    the    greater,   the   less   it   thinks    of   war.     Its   moral 
authority  will  be  far  more  potent   than  its  intercourse  with 
foreign  nations,  be  best  maintained  by  that  justice  which  is  the 
duty  of  all ;  by  that  generous  regard  not  only  for  the  rights, 
but  also  the  self-respect  of  others,  which  is  the  distinguishing  25 
mark  of  the  true  gentleman ;  and  by  that  patient  forbearance 
which  is  the  most  gracious  virtue  of  the  strong. 

1 8.  For  all  these  reasons,  it  appears  to  me  this  Republic 
is  the  natural  champion  of  the  great  peace  measure,  for  the 
furtherance  of  which  we  are  met.    The  permanent  establish-  30 
ment  of  a  general  court  of  arbitration   to  be  composed  of 
representative  jurists  of  the  principal  states,  and  to  take  cog-    • 
nizance  of  all  international  disputes  that  cannot  be  settled  by 
ordinary  diplomatic  negotiation,  is  no  doubt  the  ideal  to  be 


306  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

aimed  at.  If  this  cannot  be  reached  at  once,  the  conclusion 
of  an  arbitration  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  may  be  regarded  as  a  great  step  in  that  direction. 

19.  I  say  this,  not  as  a  so-called  Anglomaniac,  bowing 
5  down  before  everything  English.  While  I  admire  the  magnifi 
cent  qualities  and  achievements  of  that  great  nation,  I  am  not 
blind  to  its  faults.  I  suppose  Englishmen  candidly  expressing 
their  sentiments  speak  in  a  similar  strain  of  us.  But  I  believe 
that  an  arbitration  agreement  between  just  these  two  countries 

io  would  not  only  be  of  immense  importance  to  themselves,  but 
also  serve  as  an  example  to  invite  imitation  in  wider  circles. 
In  this  respect,  I  do  not  think  that  the  so-called  blood  relation 
ship  of  the  two  nations,  which  would  make  such  an  arbitration 
agreement  between  them  appear  more  natural,  furnishes  the 

15  strongest  reason  for  it.  It  is  indeed  true  that  the  ties  binding  the 
two  peoples  sentimentally  together  would  give  to  a  war  between 
them  an  especially  wicked  and  heinous  aspect.  But  were  their 
arbitration  agreement  placed  mainly  on  this  ground,  it  would 
lose  much  of  its  important  significance  for  the  world  at  large. 

20  20.  In  truth,  however,  the  common  ancestry,  the  common 
origin  of  institutions  and  laws,  the  common  traditions,  the 
common  literature,  and  so  on,  have  not  prevented  conflicts 
between  the  Americans  and  the  English  before,  and  they 
would  not  alone  be  sufficient  to  prevent  them  in  the  future. 

25  Such  conflicts  may,  indeed,  be  regarded  as  family  feuds ;  but 
family  feuds  are  apt  to  be  the  bitterest  of  all.  In  point  of  fact, 
there  is  by  no  means  such  a  community  or  accord  of  inter 
est  or  of  feeling  between  the  two  nations  as  to  preclude  hot 
rivalries  and  jealousies  on  many  fields  which  might  now  and 

30  then  bring  forth  an  exciting  clash.  We  hear  it  said  even  now, 
in  this  country,  that  Great  Britain  is  not  the  power  with  whom 
to  have  a  permanent  peace  arrangement,  because  she  is  so 
high-handed  in  her  dealings  with  other  nations.  I  should  not 
wonder  if  the  same  thing  were  said  in  England  about  the 


SCHURZ  307 

United  States.  This,  of  course,  is  not  an  argument  against  an 
arbitration  agreement,  but  rather  for  it.  Such  an  arrangement 
between  nations  of  such  temper  is  especially  called  for,  to 
prevent  that  temper  from  running  away  with  calm  reason. 
Between  perfect  angels  from  heaven  an  arbitration  treaty  5 
would  be  superfluous. 

2 1 .  The  institution  of  a  regulated  and  permanent  system  of 
arbitration  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  would, 
therefore,  not  be  a  mere  sentimental  cooing  between  loving 
cousins,  nor  a  mere  stage  show  gotten  up  for  the  amusement  10 
of  the  public,  but  a  very  serious  contrivance  intended  for  very 
serious  business.    It  will  set  to  mankind  the  example  of  two 
very  great  nations,  the  greatest  rivals  in  the  world,  neither  of 
them  a  mere  theorist  or  sentimental  dreamer,  both  intensely 
practical,  self-willed,  and  hard-headed,  deliberately  agreeing  15 
to  abstain  from  the  barbarous  ways  of  bygone  times  in  adjust 
ing  the  questions  of  conflicting  interest  or  ambition  that  may 
arise   between  them,  and  to  resort,  instead,   in  all  cases  of 
difficulty  to  the  peaceable  and  civilized  methods  suggested  by 
the  enlightenment,  the  moral  sense,  and  the  human  spirit  of  20 
our  age.    If  these  two  nations  prove  that  this  can  be  done, 
will  not  the  conclusion  gradually  force  itself  upon  other  civi 
lized  nations  that,  by  others  too,  it  ought  to  be  done,  and 
finally  that  it  must  be  done?    This  is  the  service  to  be  ren 
dered,  not  only  to  ourselves,  but  to  mankind.  25 

22.  While  the  practicability  of  international  arbitration,  by 
tribunals    established    in    each    case,   has    been   triumphantly 
proved,  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  a 
permanent  tribunal  is  possible,  whether  it  can  be  so  organized 

as  to  be  fit  for  the-  adjustment  of  all  disputes  that  might  come  30 
before  it ;   and  whether   there  would   be   any   power  behind 
it   to    enforce    its   adjudications,   in    case   one    party  or    the 
other  refused  to  comply.    Such  doubts  should  not  disturb  our 
purpose.    Similar  doubts  had  to  be  overcome  at  every  step  of 


308  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

the  progress  from  the  ancient  wager  of  battle  to  the  present 
organization  of  courts  of  justice.  I  am  sanguine  enough  to 
believe  that,  as  soon  as  the  two  governments  have  once 
resolved  that  a  fixed  system  of  international  arbitration  shall 
5  be  established  between  them,  the  same  ingenuity  which  has 
been  exerted  in  discovering  difficulties  will  then  be  exerted 
in  removing  them,  and  most  of  them  will  be  found  not  to 
exist.  The  end  to  be  reached  in  good  faith  determined  upon, 
a  workable  machinery  will  soon  be  devised,  be  it  a  permanent 
10  arbitration  tribunal,  or  the  adoption  of  an  organic  rule  for  the 
appointment  of  a  special  tribunal  for  each  case.  We  may  trust 
to  experience  to  develop  the  best  system. 

23.  Neither  am  I  troubled  by  the  objection  that  there  are 
some  international  disputes  which,  in  their  very  nature,  cannot 

15  be  submitted  to  arbitration,  especially  those  involving  ques 
tions  of  national  honor.  When  the  habit  of  such  submission  is 
once  well  established,  it  will  doubtless  be  found  that  most  of 
the  questions  now  thought  unfit  for  it  are  entirely  capable  of 
composition  by  methods  of  reason  and  equity.  And  as  to  so- 

20  called  questions  of  honor,  it  is  time  for  modern  civilization  to 
leave  behind  it  those  mediaeval  notions,  according  to  which 
personal  honor  found  its  best  protection  in  the  dueling  pistol, 
and  national  honor  could  be  vindicated  only  by  slaughter  and 
devastation.  Moreover,  was  not  the  great  Alabama  case,  which 

25  involved  points  very  closely  akin  to  questions  of  honor,  settled 
by  international  arbitration,  and  does  not  this  magnificent 
achievement  form  one  of  the  most  glorious  pages  of  the  com 
mon  history  of  America  and  England  ?  Truly,  the  two  nations 
that  accomplished  this  need  not  be  afraid  of  unadjustable 

30  questions  of  honor  in  the  future. 

24.  Indeed,  there  will  be  no  recognized  power  behind  a 
court   of   arbitration,  like  an   international   sheriff   or   other 
executionary  force,  to  compel  the  acceptance  of  its  decisions 
by  an  unwilling  party.    In  this  extreme  case  there  would  be, 


SCHURZ  309 

as  the  worst  possible  result,  what  there  would  have  been  with 
out  arbitration  —  war  !  But  in  how  many  of  the  fourscore 
cases  of  international  arbitration  we  have  witnessed  in  this 
century,  has  such  an  enforcing  power  been  needed  ?  In  not  a 
single  one.  In  every  instance  the  same  spirit  which  moved  5 
the  contending  parties  to  accept  arbitration  moved  them  also 
to  accept  the  verdict.  Why,  then,  borrow  trouble  where 
experience  has  shown  that  there  is  no  danger  of  mischief? 
The  most  trustworthy  compelling  power  will  always  be  the 
sense  of  honor  of  the  parties  concerned,  and  their  respect  for  10 
the  enlightened  judgment  of  civilized  mankind  which  will 
watch  the  proceedings.  We  may  therefore  confidently  expect 
that  a  permanent  system  of  arbitration  will  prove  as  feasible  as 
it  is  desirable.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  doubt  that  its  general 
purpose  is  intelligently  and  warmly  favored  by  the  best  public  15 
sentiment  both  in  England  and  in  the  United  States.  The 
memorial  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-three  members  of  the  Brit 
ish  House  of  Commons  which,  in  1887,  was  presented  to  the 
President  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  expressing  the 
wish  that  all  international  differences  be  submitted  to  arbitra-  20 
tion,  was,  in  1890,  echoed  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  our  Congress 
requesting  the  President  to  open  negotiations,  in  this  sense, 
with  all  countries  with  which  we  had  diplomatic  relations. 
Again  this  sentiment  broke  forth  in  England  as  well  as  here, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  Venezuela  excitement,  in  demonstra-  25 
tions  of  the  highest  respectability.  Indeed,  the  popular  desire, 
as  well  as  the  argument,  seems  to  be  all  on  one  side.  I  have 
heard  of  only  one  objection  that  makes  the  slightest  pretense 
to  statesmanship,  and  it  needs  only  to  be  stated  to  cover 
its  supporters  with  confusion.  It  is  that  we  are  a  young  and  30 
aspiring  people,  and  that  a  binding  arbitration  treaty  would 
hamper  us  in  our  freedom  of  action  ! 

25.  Let  the  light  be  turned  upon  this.    What  is  it  that  an 
arbitration  treaty  contemplates?    That  in  all  cases  of  dispute 


310  INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION 

between  this  and  a  certain  other  country,  there  shall  be  an 
impartial  tribunal  regularly  appointed  to  decide,  upon  principles 
of  international  law,  equity,  and  reason,  what  this  and  what 
the  other  country  may  be  justly  entitled  to.  And  this  arrange- 
5  ment  is  to  be  shunned  as  hampering  our  freedom  of  action ! 

26.  What  will  you  think  of  a  man  who  tells  you  that  he  feels 
himself  intolerably  hampered  in  his  freedom  of  action  by  the 
ten  commandments  or  by  the  criminal  code?    What  respect 
and  confidence  can  a  nation  claim  for  its  character  that  rejects 

10  a  trustworthy  and  well-regulated  method  of  ascertaining  and 
establishing  right  and  justice,  avowedly  to  preserve  its  freedom 
of  action?  Shame  upon  those  who  would  have  this  great 
Republic  play  so  disreputable  a  part !  I  protest  that  the  Ameri 
can  people  are  an  honorable  people.  Wherever  its  interests  or 

15  ambitions  may  lead  this  great  nation,  I  am  sure  it  will  always 
preserve  the  self-respect  which  will  prompt  it  to  court  the 
search  light  of  truth  and  justice  rather  than,  by  skulking  on 
dark  and  devious  paths,  to  seek  to  evade  it. 

27.  Therefore,  I  doubt  not  that  the  patriotic  citizens  assem- 
20  bled  here  to  promote  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  system 

of  arbitration  between  this  country  and  Great  Britain  may  be 
confident  of  having  the  warm  sympathy  of  the  American  peo 
ple  behind  them,  when  they  knock  at  the  door  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  say  to  him  :  "  In  the  name  of  all 

25  good  Americans  we  commend  this  cause  to  your  care.  If  carried 
to  a  successful  issue,  it  will  hold  up  this  Republic  to  its  noblest 
ideals.  It  will  illuminate  with  fresh  luster  the  close  of  this 
great  century.  It  will  write  the  name  of  the  American  people 
foremost  upon  the  roll  of  the  champions  of  the  world's  peace 

30  and  of  true  civilization." 


OPPORTUNITY 

JOHN  LANCASTER  SPALDING 

AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF  SPALDING  INSTITUTE, 
PEORIA,  ILLINOIS,  DECEMBER  6,  1899 

INTRODUCTION 

John  Lancaster  Spalding,  writer,  preacher,  and  orator,  a  descend 
ant  of  an  old  English  Catholic  family,  was  born  in  Lebanon,  Ken 
tucky,  June  2,  1840.  He  was  educated  at  the  Mount  St.  Mary's 
College,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  at  the  University  of  Louvain,  Bel 
gium,  where  he  was  ordained  priest  in  1863.  In  1865  he  entered 
upon  his  priestly  career  at  the  Cathedral  of  Louisville.  In  1872  he 
was  selected  to  write  the  biography  of  his  distinguished  uncle, 
Martin  John  Spalding,  formerly  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  —  a 
work  which  has  been  accepted  as  the  best  biography  in  Catholic 
literature. 

Father  Spalding  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Peoria,  Illinois,  May 
i,  1877,  and  his  work  has  since  been  centered  in  this  field.  Along 
with  the  work  in  his  diocese,  he  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
various  educational  and  social  movements,  and  his  position  as  an 
authority  in  the  latter  class  of  questions  was  recognized  by  his 
appointment  in  1902  as  a  member  of  the  President's  commission 
to  investigate  the  coal  strike. 

He  early  attracted  attention  as  a  pulpit  orator.  "  Priests  and 
people  flocked  to  hear  the  orator  who  could  make  men  think."  Of 
late  years  he  has  been  in  constant  demand  as  a  speaker  for  various 
occasions.  A  man  of  strong  mentality,  he  has  a  happy  faculty 
of  crystallizing  his  thought  in  brilliant  expression.  In  the  vol 
ume  commemorative  of  Bishop  Spalding's  Silver  Jubilee  in  1899, 
—  the  occasion  that  called  forth  the  address  in  this  volume,— 
one  writer  says : 

3" 


312 


OPPORTUNITY 


"  America  has  no  finer  type  of  the  cultured  Christian  gentleman  v 
an  uncynical  sage,  a  thinker  unafraid,  a  churchman  without  cant, 
an  unselfish  patriot,  a  large-minded,  genuine,  reverent  man.  .  .  . 
At  the  beginning  of  this  new  century  Bishop  Spalding  stands 
prophet-like  apart  to  remind  men  of  the  nobler  purposes  of  living." 

i.  How  shall  I  live?  How  shall  I  make  the  most  of  my  life 
and  put  it  to  the  best  use?  How  shall  I  become  a  man  and 
do  a  man's  work?  This,  and  not  politics  or  trade  or  war  or 
pleasure,  is  the  question.  The  primary  consideration  is  not 
5  how  one  shall  get  a  living,  but  how  he  shall  live ;  for  if  he  live 
rightly,  whatever  is  needful  he  shall  easily  find.  Life  is  oppor 
tunity,  and  therefore  its  whole  circumstance  may  be  made  to 
serve  the  purpose  of  those  who  are  bent  on  self-improvement, 
on  making  themselves  capable  of  doing  thorough  work.  Oppor- 

10  tunity  is  a  word  which,  like  so  many  others  that  are  excellent, 
we  get  from  the  Romans.  It  means  near  port,  close  to  haven. 
It  is  a  favorable  occasion,  time,  or  place  for  learning  or  saying 
or  doing  a  thing.  It  is  an  invitation  to  seek  safety  and  refresh 
ment,  an  appeal  to  make  escape  from  what  is  low  and  vulgar 

15  and  to  take  refuge  in  high  thoughts  and  worthy  deeds,  from 
which  flow  increase  of  strength  and  joy.  It  is  omnipresent. 
What  we  call  evils,  as  poverty,  neglect,  and  suffering,  are,  if 
we  are  wise,  opportunities  for  good.  Death  itself  teaches  life's 
value  not  less  than  its  vanity.  It  is  the  background  against 

20  which  its  worth  and  beauty  stand  forth  in  clear  relief.  Its  dark 
form  follows  us  like  our  shadow,  to  bid  us  win  the  prize  while 
yet  there  is  time ;  to  teach  that  if  we  live  in  what  is  permanent, 
the  destroyer  cannot  blight  what  we  know  and  love ;  to  urge 
us,  with  a  power  that  belongs  to  nothing  else,  to  lay  the  stress 

25  of  all  our  hoping  and  doing  on  the  things  that  cannot  pass 
away.  "Poverty,"  says  Ouida,  "is  the  north  wind  that  lashes 
men  into  Vikings."  "  Lowliness  is  young  ambition's  ladder." 
What  is  more  pleasant  than  to  read  of  strong-hearted  youths, 
who,  in  the  midst  of  want  and  hardships  of  many  kinds,  have 


SPALDING  313  . 

clung  to  books,  feeding,  like  bees  to  flowers  ?  By  the  light  of 
pine  logs,  in  dim-lit  garrets,  in  the  fields  following  the  plow, 
in  early  dawns  when  others  are  asleep,  they  ply  their  blessed 
task,  seeking  nourishment  for  the  mind,  athirst  for  truth, 
yearning  for  full  sight  of  the  high  worlds  of  which  they  have  5 
caught  faint  glimpses ;  happier  now,  lacking  everything  save 
faith  and  a  great  purpose,  than  in  after  years  when  success 
shall  shower  on  them  applause  and  gold. 

2.  Life  is  good,  and  opportunities  of  becoming  and  doing 
good  are  always  with  us.    Our  house,  our  table,  our  tools,  our  10 
books,  our  city,  our  country,  our  language,  our  business,  our 
profession,  —  the  people  who  love  us  and  those  who  hate,  they 
who  help  and  they  who  oppose,  —  what  is  all  this  but  oppor 
tunity?    Wherever  we  be  there  is  opportunity  of  turning  to 
gold  the  dust  of  daily  happenings.    If  snow  and  storm  keep  15 
me  at  home  is  not  here  an  invitation  to  turn  to  the  immortal 
silent  ones  who  never  speak  unless  they  are  addressed  ?    If  loss 

or  pain  or  wrong  befall  me,  shall  they  not  show  me  the  soul  of 
good  there  is  in  things  evil?    Good  fortune  may  serve  to  per 
suade  us  that  the  essential  good  is  a  noble  mind  and  a  con-  20 
science  without  flaw.    Success  will  make  plain  the  things  in 
which  we  fail;  failure  shall  spur  us  on  to  braver  hope  and 
striving.    If   I    am  left  alone,  yet   God    and    all  the  heroic 
dead  are  with  me  still.    If  a  great  city  is  my  dwelling  place, 
the  superficial   life  of  noise  and  haste   shall   teach  me  how  25 
blessed  a   thing  it  is   to  live  within  in  the  company  of  true 
thoughts  and  high  resolves. 

3.  Whatever  can  help  me  to  think"  and  love,  whatever  can 
give  me  strength  and  patience,  whatever  can  make  me  humble 
and  serviceable,  though  it  be  a  trifle  light  as  air,  is  opportunity,  30 
whose  whim  it  is  to  hide  in  unconsidered  things,  in  chance 
acquaintance  and  casual  speech,  in  the  falling  of  an  apple,  in 
floating  weeds,  or  the  accidental  explosion  in  a  chemist's  mor 
tar.  Wisdom  is  habited  in  plainest  garb,  and  she  walks  modestly, 


314  OPPORTUNITY 

unheeded  of  the  gaping  and  wondering  crowd.  She  rules  over 
the  kingdom  of  little  things,  in  which  the  lowly  minded  hold 
the  places  of  privilege.  Her  secrets  are  revealed  to  the  care 
ful,  the  patient,  and  the  humble.  They  may  be  learned  from  the 

5  ant,  or  the  flower  that  blooms  in  some  hidden  spot,  or  from  the 
lips  of  husbandmen  and  housewives.  He  is  wise  who  finds  a 
teacher  in  every  man,  an  occasion  to  improve  in  every  happen 
ing,  for  whom  nothing  is  useless  or  in  vain.  If  one  whom  he 
has  trusted  prove  false,  he  lays  it  to  the  account  of  his  own 

10  heedlessness  and  resolves  to  become  more  observant.  If  men 
scorn  him,  he  is  thankful  that  he  need  not  scorn  himself.  If 
they  pass  him  by,  it  is  enough  for  him  that  truth  and  love  still 
remain.  If  he  is  thrown  with  one  who  bears  himself  with  ease 
and  grace,  or  talks  correctly  in  pleasantly  modulated  tones,  or 

15  utters  what  can  spring  only  from  a  sincere  and  generous  mind,  — 
there  is  opportunity.  If  he  chance  to  find  himself  in  the  com 
pany  of  the  rude,  their  vulgarity  gives  him  a  higher  estimate 
of  the  worth  of  breeding  and  behavior.  The  happiness  and 
good  fortune  of  his  fellows  add  to  his  own.  If  they  are  beauti- 

20  ful  or  wise  or  strong,  their  beauty,  wisdom,  and  strength  shall 
in  some  way  help  him.  The  merry  voices  of  children  bring 
gladness  to  his  heart ;  the  songs  of  birds  wake  melody  there. 
Whoever  anywhere,  in  any  age,  spoke  noble  words  or  performed 
heroic  deeds,  spoke  and  wrought  for  him.  For  him  Moses  led 

25  the  people  forth  from  bondage ;  for  him  the  three  hundred 
perished  at  Thermopylae ;  for  him  Homer  sang ;  for  him  De 
mosthenes  denounced  the  tyrant ;  for  him  Columbus  sailed  the 
untraveled  sea ;  for  him  Galileo  gazed  on  the  starry  vault ;  for 
him  the  blessed  Saviour  died.  He  knows  that  whatever  dimin- 

30  ishes  his  good  will  to  men,  his  sympathy  with  them,  even  in  their 

blindness  and  waywardness,  makes  him  poorer,  and  he  therefore 

*  finds  means  to  convert  their  faults  even  into  opportunities  for 

loving  them  more.    The  rivalries  of  business  and  politics,  the 

shock  of  conflicting  aims  and  interests,  the  prejudices  and 


SPALDING 


315 


perversities  of  men,  shall  not  cheat  him  of  his  own  good  by 
making  him  less  just  or  kind.    He  stands  with  the  Eternal  for  ' 
righteousness,  and  will  not  suffer  that  fools  or  criminals  divert 
him  to  lower  ends.    If  we  have  but  the  right  mind,  all  things, 
even  those  that  hurt,  help  us.    "  That  which  befits  us,"  says    5 
Emerson,  "  embosomed  in  beauty  and  wonder  as  we  are,  is 
cheerfulness  and  courage,  and   the   endeavor   to  realize   our 
aspirations.    The  life  of  man  is  the  true  romance  which,  when 
it  is  valiantly  conducted,  yields  the  imagination  a  higher  joy 
than  any  fiction."    May  we  not  make  the  stars  and  the  moun-  10 
tains  and  the  all-enduring  .earth  minister  to  tranquillity  of  soul, 
to  elevation  of  mind,  and  to  patient  striving?    Have  not  the 
flowers  and  human  eye  and  the  look  of  heaven  when  the  sun 
first  appears  or  departs,  power  to  show  us  that  God  is  beautiful 
and  good?  I5 

4.  Since  life  is  great,  nay,  of  inestimable  value,  no  oppor 
tunity  by  which  it  may  be  improved  can  be  small.  Higher 
things  remain  to  be  done  than  have  yet  been  accomplished. 
God  and  His  universe  still  wait  on  each  individual  soul,  offer 
ing  opportunity.  In  the  midst  of  the  humble  and  inevitable  20 
realities  of  daily  life  each  one  must  seek  out  for  himself  the 
way  to  better  worlds.  Our  power,  our  worth  will  be  propor 
tionate  to  the  industry  and  perseverance  with  which  we  make 
right  use  of  the  ever-recurring  minor  occasions,  whether  for  be 
coming  or  for  doing  good.  Opportunity  is  not  wanting  —  there  25 
is  place  and  means  for  all  — but  we  lack  will,  we  lack  faith, 
hope,  and  desire,  we  lack  watchfulness,  meditation,  and  earnest 
striving,  we  lack  aim  and  purpose.  Do  we  imagine  that  it  is 
not  possible  to  lead  a  high  life  in  a  lowly  room?  That  one 
may  not  be  hero,  sage,  or  saint  in  a  factory  or  a  coalpit,  at  30 
the  handle  of  the  plow  or  the  throttle  of  the  engine?  We 
are  all  in  the  center  of  the  same  world,  and  whatever  hap 
pens  to  us  is  great,  if  there  be  greatness  in  us.  The  disbelievers 
m  opportunity  are  voluble  with  excuses.  They  cannot;  they 


3I6  OPPORTUNITY 

have  no  leisure ;  they  have  not  the  means.  But  they  can  if 
they  will;  leisure  to  improve  oneself  is  never  wanting,  and 
they  who  seek  find  the  means.  There  is  always  opportunity 
to  do  right,  though  he  who  does  it  stand  alone,  like  Abdiel, 

5  Among  innumerable  false,  unmoved, 

Unshaken,  unseduced,  unterrified. 

5.  Let  a  man  but  have  an  aim,  a  purpose,  and  opportunities 
to  attain  his  end  shall  start  forth  like  buds  at  the  kiss  of 
spring.    If  we  do  not  know  what  we  want,  how  shall  anything 

10  be  made  to  serve  us?  The  heedless  walk  through  deserts  in 
which  the  observant  find  the  most  precious  things.  Little  is 
to  be  hoped  for  from  the  weavers  of  pretexts,  from  those  who 
tell  us  what  they  should  do,  if  circumstances  were  other. 
What  hinders  helps,  where  souls  are  alive.  Say  not  thou  lackest 

15  talent.  What  talent  had  any  of  the  great  ones  better  than 
their  passionate  trust  in  the  efficacy  of  labor? 

6.  The  important  thing  is  to  have  an  aim  and  to  pursue  it 
with  perseverance.    What  is  the  aim  the  wise  should  propose 
to  themselves  ?    Not  getting  and  possessing,  but  becoming  and 

20  being.  Man  is  not  only  more  than  anything  that  can  belong 
to  him  :  he  is  greater  than  planets  and  solar  systems.  We 
easily  persuade  ourselves  that  were  circumstances  more  favor 
able  we  should  be  better  and  happier.  It  may  be  so,  but  the 
mood  is  weak  and  foolish.  There  is  never  a  question  of  what 

25  might  have  been  where  true  men  think  and  act.  The  past  is 
irrecoverable.  It  is  our  business  to  do  what  we  can  here  and 
now,  and  regrets  serve  but  to  enfeeble  and  distract  us.  The 
boundless  good  lies  near  each  one,  and  though  a  thousand 
times  it  has  eluded  us,  let  us  believe  that  now  we  shall  hold  it 

30  fast.  From  failure  to  failure  we  rise  toward  truth  and  love. 
The  ascent  is  possible  even  for  the  lowliest  of  God's  creatures. 
When,  indeed,  we  look  backward  through  long  years  of  life, 
lost  opportunities  rise  before  us  like  mocking  fiends  crying, 


SPALDING  317 

"Too  late,  too  late !  Nevermore,  nevermore ! ";  but  the  wise  heed 
no  voice  that  bids  them  lose  heart.  They  look  ever  forward, 
they  press  toward  the  mark,  knowing  that  the  present  moment 
is  the  only  opportunity.  Now  is  the  day  of  salvation,  now  is 
the  day  of  doom.  The  individual  is  but  as  a  bubble  that  rises  5 
from  out  the  infinite  ocean  of  being  and  bursts  in  the  inane ; 
but  his  life  is  nevertheless  enrooted  in  the  Absolute,  and  all 
the  circumstances  by  which  his  existence  is  surrounded  and 
attended  are  but  meant  to  awaken  in  him  a  knowledge  and 
appreciation  of  his  abiding  and  inestimable  worth.  They  all,  10 
therefore,  are  or  may  be  made  opportunities.  The  paramount 
consideration  is  not  what  will  procure  for  him  more  money, 
finer  houses,  better  machines,  more  rapid  or  more  destructive 
engines,  but  what  will  make  him  wiser,  stronger,  holier,  more 
loving,  more  godlike.  15 

7.  What  innumerable  blessings  we  miss  through  lack  of  sen 
sibility,  of  openness  to  light,  of  fair-mindedness,  of  insight,  of 
teachableness,  —  virtues  which  it  is  possible  for  all  to  cultivate  ! 
The  best  is  not  ours,  not  because  it  is  far  away  and  unattain 
able,  but  because  we  ourselves  are  indifferent,  narrow,  short-  20 
sighted  and  unsympathetic.    To  make  our  world  larger  and 
fairer   it   is   not   necessary  to   discover  or  acquire  new  ob 
jects,  but  to  grow  into  conscious  and  loving  harmony  with 
the  good  which  is  ever-present  and  inviting.    How  much  of 
life's  joy  we  lose  from  want  of  a  fearless  and  cheerful  spirit !  25 
The  brave  and  glad-hearted,  like  the  beautiful,  are  welcome  in 
all  companies.  • 

8.  It  is  our  own  fault  if  beauty  is  not  ours.    A  fair  and 
luminous  mind   creates  a  body  after   its  own  image.    With 
health  and  a  soul,  nor  man  nor  woman  can  be  other  than  30 
beautiful,  whatever  the  features.    The  most  potent  charm  is 
that  of  expression.    As  the  moonlight  clothes  the  rugged  and 
jagged  mountain  with  loveliness,  so  a  noble  mind  transfigures 
its  vesture. 


318  OPPORTUNITY 

9.  The  man  himself  is  the  best   part  of  the   opportunity. 
The  starlit  heaven  is  not  sublime  when  there  is  no  soul  capable 
of  awe ;  the  spring  is  not  fair  where  there  is  no  glad  heart  to 
see  and  feel.    Opportunity  is  living  correspondence  with  one's 

5  environment.  Where  there  is  no  correspondence  there  is  no 
opportunity.  For  ages  the  exhaustless  resources  of  America 
lay  unknown  and  unutilized  because  the  right  kind  of  a  man 
was  not  here.  The  Kimberley  diamonds  were  but  worthless 
pebbles,  the  playthings  of  the  children  of  savages,  until  it 
10  chanced  that  they  fell  under  the  eye  of  one  who  knew  how 
to  look.  .  .  . 

10.  Here  in  America,  above  all,  the  new  age  approaching 
offers  opportunity.    Here  only  a  beginning  has  been  made ; 
we  have  but  felled  the  forest,  and  drained  the  marsh,  and 

15  bridged  the  river,  and  built  the  road;  but  cleared  the  wild- 
wood  and  made  wholesome  the  atmosphere  for  a  more  fortu 
nate  race,  whom  occasion  shall  invite  to  greater  thoughts  and 
more  godlike  deeds.  We  stand  in  the  front  rank  of  those  who 
face  life,  dowered  with  all  the  instruments  of  power  which 

20  the  labors  of  the  strongest  and  wisest  in  all  time  and  place 
have  provided. 

11.  We  might  have  been  born  savages  or  slaves,  in  a  land 
of  cannibals  or  tyrants  ;  but  we  enter  life  welcomed  by  all 
that  gives  worth  and  joy,  courage  and  security  to  man.    There 

25  is  inspiration  in  the  air  of  America.  Here  all  is  fresh  and 
young,  here  progress  is  less  difficult,  here  there  is  hope  and 
confidence,  here  there  is  eagerness  to 'know  and  to  do.  Here 
they  who  are  intelligent,  sober,  industrious,  and  self-denying 
may  get  what  money  is  needed  for  leisure  and  independence, 

30  for  the  founding  of  a  home  and  the  right  education  of  children, 
—  the  wealth  which  strengthens  and  liberates,  not  the  excess 
which  undermines  and  destroys.  The  material  is  good  but  in 
so  far  as  it  is  a  means  to  spiritual  good.  The  power  to  think 
and  appreciate  the  thoughts  of  others,  to  love  and  to  be  happy 


SPALDING  319 

in  the  joy,  the  courage,  the  beauty,  and  the  goodness  of  others, 
lifts  us  above  our  temporal  environment,  and  endows  us  with 
riches  of  which  money  can  never  be  the  equivalent.  A  great 
thought  or  a  noble  love,  like  a  beautiful  object,  bears  us  away 
from  the  hard  and  narrow  world  of  our  selfish  interest,  dips  us  5 
in  the  clear  waters  of  pure  delight,  and  makes  us  glad  as  children 
who.  lie  in  the  shade  and  catch  the  snowy  blossoms  as  they  fall. 
12.  No  true  man  ever  believes  that  it  is  not  possible  to  do 
great  things  without  great  riches.  When,  therefore,  we  say 
with  Emerson,  that  America  is  but  a  name  for  opportunity,  we  10 
do  not  emphasize  its  material  resources  or  the  facility  with 
which  they  may  be  made  available.  He  who  knows  that  the 
good  of  life  lies  within  arid  that  it  is  infinite,  capable  of  being 
cherished  and  possessed  more  and  more  by  whoever  seeks  it 
with  all  his  heart,  understands  that  a  little  of  what  is  external  15 
is  sufficient  and  is  not  hard  to  acquire.  He,  therefore,  neither 
gives  himself  to  the  pursuit  of  wealth  or  fame  or  pleasure  or 
position,  nor  thinks  those  fortunate  who  are  rich  in' these  things. 
He  feels  that  the  worst  misfortune  is  not  the  loss  of  money  or 
friends  or  reputation,  but  the  loss  of  inner  strength  and  whole-  20 
ness,  of  faith  in  God  and  man,  of  self-respect,  of  the  desire  for 
knowledge  and  virtue.  The  darkened  mind,  the  callous  heart, 
the  paralytic  will,  —  these  are  the  root  evils.  Is  man  a  real 
being,  with  an  element  of  freedom,  responsibility,  and  perma 
nence  in  his  constitution,  or  is  he  but  a  phantom,  a  bubble  that  25 
rises  and  floats  for  a  moment,  and  then  bursts  in  the  boundless 
inane,  where  all  things  disappear  and  are  no  more?  This  is 
the  radical  question,  for  if  the  individual  wholly  ceases  to  be 
at  death,  the  race  itself  is  but  a  parasite  of  a  planet  which 
is  slowly  perishing ;  and  life's  formula  is,  —  from  nothing  to  30 
nothing.  But  nothingness  is  inconceivable,  for  to  think  is  to 
be  conscious  of  being ;  something  exists ;  therefore  something 
has  always  existed.  Being  is  a  mental  conception ;  and  when 
we  affirm  that  it  is  eternal  we  affirm  the  eternity  of  mind,  that 


320  OPPORTUNITY 

mind  'is  involved  in  the  nature  of  things.  It  is  the  conscious 
ness  of  this  that  makes  it  impossible  for  the  soul  to  accept  a 
mechanical  theory  of  the  universe  or  to  rest  content  with  what 
is  material.  It  is  akin  to  the  infinite  Spirit,  and  for  man  oppor- 
5  tunity  is  opportunity  to  develop  his  true  self,  to  grow  in  wisdom 
and  love.  What  he  yearns  for  in  his  deepest  heart  is  not  to 
eat  and  drink,  but  to  live  in  ever-increasing  conscious  com 
munion  with  the  vital  truth  which  is  the  soul's  nourishment, 
the  element  in  which  faith  and  hope  and  freedom  thrive.  The 

10  modern  mind,  having  gained  a  finer  insight  into  the  play  of 
the  forces  of  nature,  which  are  ceaselessly  being  transformed 
into  new  modes  of  existence,  seems  threatened  with  loss  of  the 
power  of  perceiving  the  Eternal.  But  this  enfeeblement  and 
perturbation  are  temporary,  and  on  our  wider  knowledge  we 

15  shall  build  a  nobler  and  more  glorious  temple  wherein  to  believe 
and  serve,  to  love  and  pray.  That  man,  who  lives  but  a  day 
and  is  but  an  atom,  should  imagine  that  he  partakes  of  the 
attributes  of  the  eternal  and  absolute  Being,  would  seem  to  be 
absurd.  None  the  less  all  that  is  most  real  and  highest  in  him 

20  impels  to  this  belief.  To  lose  it  is  to  lose  faith  in  the  meaning 
and  worth  of  life ;  is  to  abandon  the  principle  that  issues  in 
the  heroic  struggles  .and  sufferings  by  which  freedom,  civiliza 
tion,  art,  science,  and  religion  have  been  won  and  secured  as 
the  chief  blessings  of  the  race.  It  is  not  possible  to  find  true 

25  joy  except  in  striving  for  the  infinite,  for  something  we  have 
not  yet,  which  we  can  never  have,  here  at  least.  Hence,  what 
ever  purpose  a  man  cherish,  whatever  task  he  set  himself,  he 
finds  his  work  stretching  forth  endlessly.  The  more  he  .attains 
the  more  clearly  he  perceives  the  boundless  unattained.  His 

30  success  is  ever  becoming  failure,  his  riches  poverty,  his  knowl 
edge  ignorance,  his  virtue  vice.  The  higher  he  rises  in  power 
of  thought  and  love,  the  more  what  he  thinks  and  loves  seems 
to  melt  away  and  disappear  in  the  abysmal  depths  of  the  All- 
perfect  Being,  who  is  forever  and  forever,  of  whom  he  is  born, 


SPALDING  321 

and  whom  to  seek  through  endless  time  were  a  blessed  lot.  It 
is  the  hope  of  finding  Him  that  lures  the  soul  to  unseen  worlds, 
lifts  it  out  of  the  present,  driving  it  to  the  past  and  the  future, 
that  it  may  live  with  vanished  saints  and  heroes,  or  with  the 
diviner  men  who  yet  shall  be.  5 

13.  It  is  only  when  we  walk  in  the  spirit  and  follow  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  Son  of  God  that  we  come  to  understand  that 
life  is  opportunity,  rich  as  earth,  wide  as  heaven,  deep  as  the 
soul.    We  weary  of  everything,  —  of  labor,  of  rest,  of  pleasure, 

of  success,  of  the  company  of  friends,  and  of  our  own,  but  not  10 
of  the  Divine  Presence  uttering  itself  in  hope  and  love,  in  peace 
and  joy.    They  who  live  with  sensual  thoughts  and  desires  soon 
come  to  find  them  a  burden  and  a  blight ;  but  the  lowly  minded 
and  the  clean  in  heart,  who  are  busy  with  whatsoever  things 
are  true  and  fair  and  good,  feel  themselves  in  a  serene  world  15 
where  it  is  always  delightful  to  be.    When  we  understand  that 
all  is  from  God  and  for  Him,  and  turn  our  wills  wholly  to  Him, 
trouble,  doubt,  and  anxiety  die  away,  and  the  soul  rests  in  the 
calm  and  repose  that  belong  to  whatever  is  eternal.    He  sees 
all  and  is  not  disturbed.    Why  should  we  be  filled  with  appre-  20 
hension  because  there  are  ripples  in  the  little  pond  where  our 
lifeboat  floats? 

14.  The  followers  of  the  Divine  Master  best  know  that  true 
men  need  not  great  opportunities.    He  himself  met  with  no 
occasions  which  may  not  be  offered  to  any  one.    His  power  25 
and  goodness  are  most  manifest  amidst  the  simplest  arid  lowliest 
surroundings.    To  beggars,  fishermen,  and  shepherds  he  speaks 
words  which  resound  throughout  the  ages  and  still  awaken  in 
myriad  hearts  echoes  from  higher  worlds.    Whether  He  walks 
amid  the  cornfields,  or  sits  by  the  well,  or  from  a  boat  or  a  30 
hillside  speaks  to  the  multitude;   whether  He  confronts  the 
elders  who   bring   Him  the  guilty  woman,  or  stands   before 
Pilate,  or  hangs  on  the  cross,  He  is  equally  noble,  fair,  and 
Godlike.    The  lesson  He  teaches  by  word  and  deed  is  that  we 


322  .  OPPORTUNITY 

should  not  wait  for  opportunity,  but  that  the  secret  of  true  life 
and  best  achievement  lies  in  doing  well  the  thing  the  Heavenly 
Father  gives  us  to  do.  He  who  throws  himself  resolutely  and 
with  perseverance  into  a  course  of  worthy  action  will  at  last 
5  hear  the  discords  of  human  existence  die  away  into  harmonies ; 
for  if  the  voice  within  whispers  that  all  is  well,  it  is  fair  weather, 
however  the  clouds  may  lower  or  the  lightning  play.  What  we 
habitually  love  and  live  by,  will,  in  due  season,  bud,  blossom, 
and  bear  fruit. 

10  15.  Opportunity  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word  is  oppor 
tunity  for  education,  for  making  ourselves  men.  This  end  every 
occasion  should  serve,  since  for  this  we  are  born.  "  We  should 
as  far  as  it  is  possible,"  says  Aristotle,  "  make  ourselves  immor 
tal,  and  strive  to  live  by  that  part  of  ourselves  which  is  more 

15  excellent."  Now,  the  testimony  of  the  wise  of  all  ages  agrees 
that  a  virtuous  life  is  the  best  and  the  happiest.  Choose  and 
follow  it  then,  though  thou  find  it  hard ;  for  custom  will  make  it 
easy  and  pleasant.  Piety  nourishes  faith,  hope,  and  love,  and 
therefore  sustains  life.  If  thou  seekest  for  what  is  new  and  also 

20  permanently  interesting,  live  with  the  old  truths,  until  they 
strike  root  in  thy  being  and  break  into  new  light  and  power. 
The  happenings  of  the  day  and  year  are  but  novelties,  but 
bubbles  that  burst  in  the  vacant  air ;  that  which  is  forever  new 
is  ancient  as  God.  It  is  that  whereby  the  soul  lives.  It  was 

25  with  the  first  man  when  first  he  blossomed  forth  from  eternity ; 
it  is  with  thee  now  and  shall  be  with  all  men  until  the  end. 
It  is  the  source  whence  thy  being  springs ;  its  roots  dip  into 
infinity;  its  flowers  make  the  universe  glad  and  sweet;  it  is 
the  power  which  awakens  the  soul  to  the  consciousness  of  its 

30  kinship  with  Him  who  is  all  in  all,  who  is  life  and  truth  and 
love,  who  the  more  He  is  sought  and  loved  doth  seem  to  be 
the  more  divinely  beautiful  and  good.  Learn  to  live  with  the 
thoughts  which  are  symbols  of  His  Eternal  Being,  and  thou 
shalt  come  to  feel  that  nothing  else  is  so  fresh  or  fair.  As  a 


SPALDING  323 

sound  may  suggest  light  and  color,  a  perfume  recall  forgotten 
worlds ;  as  a  view,  disclosed  by  a  turn  in  the  road,  may  carry 
us  across  years  and  oceans  to  scenes  and  friends  long  unvisited  ; 
as  a  bee,  weaving  his  winding  path  from  flower  to  flower,  may 
bring  back  the  laughter  of  children,  the  songs  of  birds,  and  the  5 
visionary  clouds  fallen  asleep  in  the  voluptuous  sky  of  June ; 
so  the  universe  will  come  to  utter  for  us  the  voice  of  the 
Creator,  who  is  our  Father.  Nothing  touches  the  soul  but 
leaves  its  impress,  and  thus,  little  by  little,  we  are  fashioned 
into  the  image  of  all  we  have  seen  and  heard,  known  and  medi-  10 
tated ;  and  if  we  learn  to  live  with  all  that  is  fairest  and  purest 
and  best,  the  love  of  it  all  will  in  the  end  become  our  very  life. 


SALT 

HENRY  VAN  DYKE 
BACCALAUREATE  SERMON,  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY,  JUNE,  1898 

INTRODUCTION 

Henry  van  Dyke,  preacher,  author,  and  educator,  was  born  in 
Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  in  1852.  He  graduated  from  Prince 
ton  University  in  1873,  from  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 
in  1877,  and  from  Berlin  University  in  1878.  From  1878  to  1882 
he  was  pastor  of  the  United  Congregational  Church  of  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  and  then  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  New 
York,  till  1900,  when  he  accepted  a  professorship  of  English 
literature  at  Princeton. 

His  works  include :  The  Reality  of  Religion  (1884)  ;  The  Story 
of  the  Psalms  (1887) ;  The  Poetry  of  Tennyson  (1889,  1895);  The 
Christ  Child  in  Art  (1894) ;  Little  Rivers  (1895)  ;  The  Gospel  for 
an  Age  of  Doubt  (1896);  The  Other  Wise  Man  (1896);  The 
Builders  and  Other  Poems  (1897);  The  Gospel  for  a  World  of 
Sin  (1899);  The  Toiling  of  Felix,  and  other  Poems  (1900);  The 
Ruling  Passion  (1901)  ;  and  The  Blue  Flower  (1902). 

Dr.  van  Dyke  combines  the  highest  degree  of  intellect  with  the 
highest  felicity  of  literary  expression.  No  modern  writer  has  been 
so  frequently  quoted  for  his  short,  pithy  proverbs.  He  is  also  one 
of  the  most  successful  preachers  of  to-day.  In  his  pulpit  discourses 
there  is  marked  breadth,  but  also  marked  decision  and  definite- 
ness;  the  vagueness  that  often  characterizes  sermons  is  wholly 
absent  from  his  preaching. 

As  a  pulpit  orator,  Dr.  van  Dyke  enjoys  a  reputation  second  to 
none  in  America ;  and  an  address  on  "  Christianity  and  Literature," 
delivered  before  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Alliance  in  Liverpool,  Eng 
land,  was  declared  by  the  British  Weekly  (London,  July  7,  1904) 

325 


326  SALT 

to  have  touched  » the  oratorical  high-water  mark  "  of  the  conven 
tion.  His  oratory,  with  no  effort  to  produce  artificial  effects,  is 
characterized  by  a  strong  virility,  and  by  a  certain  moral  vivacity 
and  dash  which  makes  it  peculiarly  effective  in  college  chapels. 
"  His  thought  is  not  only  strikingly  objective  in  statement,  but  has 
in  it  the  resonant  quality  of  a  conviction  which  enlists  the  imagi 
nation  and  the  emotions  as  well  as  the  intellect.  .  .  .  The  secret 
of  his  power  lies  in  the  prime  qualities  of  the  man :  his  courage, 
loyalty,  sincerity  in  life  and  art ;  above  all,  his  tireless  pursuit  of 
complete  and  adequate  self-expression." 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.  —  MATTHEW  v.  13. 

-/t/U/CW'C~«-^   '     f 

i .  This  figure  of  speech  is  plain  and  pungent.  Salt  is  savory, 
purifying,  preservative.  It  is  one  of  those  superfluities  which 
the  great  French  wit  defined  as  "  things  that  are  very  neces 
sary."  From  the  very  beginning  of  human  history  men  have 
5  set  a  high  value  upon  it  and  sought  for  it  in  caves  and  by  the 
seashore.  The  nation  that  had  a  good  supply  of  it  was  counted 
rich.  A  bag  of  salt,  among  the  barbarous  tribes,  was  worth 
more  than  a  man.  The  Jews  prized  it  especially  because  they 
lived  in  a  warm  climate  where  food  was  difficult  to  keep,  and 
10  because  their  religion  laid  particular  emphasis  on  cleanliness, 
and  because  salt  was  largely  used  in  their  sacrifices. 

2.  Christ  chose  an  image  which  was  familiar  when  He  said 
to  His  disciples,  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth."    This  was  His 
conception  of  their  mission,  their  influence.    They  were  to 

15  cleanse  and  sweeten  the  world  in  which  they  lived,  to  keep  it 
from  decay,  to  give  a  new  and  more  wholesome  flavor  to 
human  existence.  Their  character  was  not  to  be  passive,  but 
active.  The  sphere  of  its  action  was  to  be  this  present  life. 
There  is  no  use  in  saving  salt  for  heaven.  It  will  not  be 

20  needed  there.  Its  mission  is  to  permeate,  season,  and  purify 
things  on  earth. 

3.  Now,  from  one  point  of  view,  it  was  an  immense  compli 
ment  for  the  disciples  to  be  spoken  to  in  this  way.    Their 


VAN   DYKE  327 

Master  showed  great  confidence  in  them.  He  set  a  high  value 
upon  them.  The  historian  Livy  could  find  nothing  better  to 
express  his  admiration  for  the  people  of  ancient  Greece  than 
this  very  phrase.  He  called  them  sal  gentium,  "  the  salt  of 
the  nations."  5 

4.  But  it  was  not  from  this  point  of  view  that  Christ  was 
speaking.    He  was  not  paying  compliments.    He  was  giving  a 
clear  and  powerful  call  to  duty.  His  thought  was  not  that  His 
disciples  should  congratulate  themselves  on  being  better  than 
other  men.    He  wished  them  to  ask  themselves  whether  they  10 
actually  had  in  them  the  purpose  and  the  power  to  make  other 
men  better.    Did  they  intend  to  exercise  a  purifying,  season 
ing,  saving  influence  in  the  world?    Were  they  going  to  make 
their  presence  felt  on  earth  and  felt  for  good?    If  not,  they 
would  be  failures  and  frauds.    The  savor  would  be  out  of  them.  15 
They  would  be  like  lumps  of  rock  salt  which  has  lain  too  long 

in  a  damp  storehouse  ;  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  thrown 
away  and  trodden  under  foot ;  worth  less  than  common  rock 
or  common  clay,  because  it  would  not  even  make  good  roads. 

5.  Men  of  privilege  without  power  are  waste  material.  Men  20 
of  enlightenment  without  influence  are  the  poorest  kind  of 
rubbish.    Men  of  intellectual  and  moral  and  religious  culture, 
who  are  not  active  forces  for  good  in  society,  are  not  worth 
what  it  costs  to  produce  and  keep  them.    If  they  pass  for 
Christians  they  are  guilty  of  obtaining  respect  under  false  pre-  25 
tenses.    They  we're  meant  to  be  the  salt  of  the  earth.    And 
the  first  duty  of  salt  is  to  be  salty. 

6.  This  is  the  subject  on  which  I  want  to  speak  to  you 
to-day.    The  saltiness  of  salt  is  the  symbol  of  a  noble,  power 
ful,  truly  religious  life.  30 

7.  You  college  students  are  men  of  privilege.    It  costs  ten 
times  as  much,  in  labor  and  care  and  money,  to  bring  you  out 
where  you  are  to-day  as  it  costs  to  educate  the  average  man, 
and  a  hundred  times  as  much  as  it  costs  to  raise  a  boy  without 


328  SALT 

any  education.    This  fact  brings  you  face  to  face  with  a  ques 
tion  :  Are  you  going  to  be  worth  your  salt  ? 

8.  You  have  had  mental  training  and  plenty  of  instruction 
in  various  branches  of  learning.    You  ought  to  be  full  of  intel- 

5  ligence.  You  have  had  moral  discipline,  and  the  influences  of 
good  example  have  been  steadily  brought  to  bear  upon  you. 
You  ought  to  be  full  of  principle.  You  have  had  religious  advan 
tages  and  abundant  inducements  to  choose  the  better  part.  You 
ought  to  be  full  of  faith.  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  your 
10  intelligence,  your  principle,  your  faith?  It  is  your  duty  to  make 
active  use  of  them  for  the  seasoning,  the  cleansing,  the  saving 
of  the  world.  Do  not  be  sponges.  Be  the  salt  of  the  earth. 

9.  I.  Think,  first,  of  the  influence  for  good  which  men  of 
intelligence  may  exercise  in  the  world  if  they  will  only  put 

15  their  culture  to  the  right  use.  Half  the  troubles  of  mankind 
come  from  ignorance — ignorance  which  is  systematically 
organized  with  societies  for  its  support  and  newspapers  for  its 
dissemination  —  ignorance  which  consists  less  in  not  knowing 
things  than  in  willfully  ignoring  the  things  that  are  already 

20  known.  There  are  certain  physical  diseases  which  would  go 
out  of  existence  in  ten  years  if  people  would  only  remember 
what  has  been  learned.  There  are  certain  political  and  social 
plagues  which  are  propagated  only  in  the  atmosphere  of  shal 
low  self-confidence  and  vulgar  thoughtlessness.  There  is  a 

25  yellow  fever  of  literature  specially  adapted  and  prepared  for 
the  spread  of  shameless  curiosity,  incorrect' information,  and 
complacent  idiocy  among  all  classes  of  the  population.  Per 
sons  who  fall  under  the  influence  of  this  pest  become  so  trium 
phantly  ignorant  that  they  cannot  distinguish  between  news 

30  and  knowledge.  They  develop  a  morbid  thirst  for  printed 
matter,  and  the  more  they  read  the  less  they  learn.  They  are 
fit  soil  for  the  bacteria  of  folly  and  fanaticism. 

10.  Now  the  men  of  thought,  of  cultivation,  of  reason  in 
the  community  ought  to  be  an  antidote  to  these  dangerous 


VAN   DYKE 


influences.  Having  been  instructed  in  the  lessons  of  history 
and  science  and  philosophy  they  are  bound  to  contribute  their 
knowledge  to  the  service  of  society.  As  a  rule  they  are  willing 
enough  to  do  this  for  pay,  in  the  professions  of  law  and  medi 
cine  and  teaching  and  divinity.  What  I  plead  for  is  the  wider,  5 
nobler,  unpaid  service  which  an  educated  man  renders  to 
society  simply  by  being  thoughtful  and  by  helping  other  men 
to  think. 

ii.  The  college  men  of  a  country  ought  to  be  its  most  con 
servative  men  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  men  who  do  most  to  conserve  it.  10 
They  ought  to  be  the  men  whom  demagogues  cannot  inflame  nor  \ 
political  bosses  pervert.    They  ought  to  bring  wild  theories  to 
the  test  of  reason,  and  withstand  rash  experiments  with  obsti 
nate  prudence.    When  it  is  proposed,  for  example,  to  enrich  the 
whole  nation  by  debasing  its  currency,  they  should  be  the  men  15 
who  demand  time  to  think  whether  real  wealth  can  be  created 
by  artificial  legislation.    And  if  they  succeed  in  winning  time 
to  think,  the  danger  will  pass  —  or  rather  it  will  be  transformed 
into  some  other  danger  requiring  a  new  application  of  the  salt 
of  intelligence.    For  the  fermenting  activity  of  ignorance  is  20 
incessant,  and  perpetual  thoughtfulness  is  the  price  of  social 
safety. 

12.  But  it  is  not  ignorance  alone  that  works  harm  in  the  body 
of  society.  Passion  is  equally  dangerous.  Take,  for  instance,  a 
time  when  war  is  imminent.  How  easily  and  how  wildly  the  25 
passions  of  men  are  roused  by  the  mere  talk  of  fighting.  How 
ready  they  are  to  plunge  into  a  fierce  conflict  for  an  unknown 
motive,  for  a  base  motive,  or  for  no  motive  at  all.  Educated 
men  should  be  the  steadiest  opponents  of  war  while  it  is  avoid 
able.  But  when  it  becomes  inevitable,  save  at  a  cost  of  a  fail-  3o 
ure  in  duty  and  a  loss  of  honor,  then  they  should  be  the  most 
vigorous  advocates  of  carrying  it  to  a  swift,  triumphant,  and 
noble  end.  No  man  ought  to  be  too  much  educated  to  love  his 
country  and,  if  need  be,  to  die  for  it.  The  culture  which  leaves 


33°  SALT 

a  man  without  a  flag  is  only  one  degree  less  miserable  than 
that  which  leaves  him  without  a  God.  To  be  empty  of  enthu- 
siams  and  overflowing  with  criticisms  is  not  a  sign  of  culti 
vation,  but  of  enervation.  The  best  learning  is  that  which 
5  intensifies  a  man's  patriotism  as  well  as  clarifies  it.  The  finest 
education  is  that  which  puts  a  man  in  closest  touch  with  his 
fellow-men.  The  true  intelligence  is  that  which  acts,  not  as 
cayenne  pepper  to  sting  the  world,  but  as  salt  to  cleanse  and 
conserve  it. 

10  13.  II.  Think,  in  the  second  place,  of  the  duty  which  men 
of  moral  principle  owe  to  society  in  regard  to  the  evils  which 
corrupt  and  degrade  it.  Of  the  existence  of  these  evils  we  need 
to  be  reminded  again  and  again,  just  because  we  are  compara 
tively  clean  and  decent  and  upright  people.  Men  who  live 
i  s  an  orderly  life  are  in  great  danger  of  doing  nothing  else.  We 
wrap  our  virtue  up  in  little  bags  of  respectability  and  keep  it 
in  the  storehouse  of  a  safe  reputation.  But  if  it  is  genuine  vir 
tue  it  is  worthy  of  a  better  use  than  that.  It  is  fit,  nay  it  is 
designed  and  demanded,  to  be  used  as  salt,  for  the  purifying 
20  of  human  life. 

14.  There  are  multitudes  of  our  fellow- men  whose  existence 
is  dark,  confused,  and  bitter.  Some  of  them  are  groaning  under 
the  burden  of  want ;  partly  because  of  their  own  idleness  or 
incapacity^  no  doubt,  but  partly  also  because  of  the  rapacity, 
25  greed,  and  injustice  of  other  men.  Some  of  them  are  tortured 
in  bondage  to  vice  ;  partly  by  their  own  false  choice,  no  doubt, 
but  partly  also  for  want  of  guidance  and  good  counsel  and  human 
sympathy.  Every  great  city  contains  centers  of  moral  decay 
which  an  honest  man  cannot  think  of  without  horror,  pity,  and 
30  dread.  The  trouble  is  that  many  honest  folk  dislike  these 
emotions  so  much  that  they  shut  their  eyes  and  walk  through 
the  world  with  their  heads  in  the  air,  breathing  a  little  atmos 
phere  of  their  own,  and  congratulating  themselves  that  the 
world  goes  very  well  now.  But  is  it  well  that  the  things  which 


VAN    DYKE  33! 

eat  the  heart  out  of  manhood  and  womanhood  should  go  on 
in  all  our  great  towns  ?  . 

Is  it  well  that  while  we  range  with  science,  glorying  in  the  time, 
City  children  soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime  ? 
There,  among  the  glooming  alleys,  progress  halts  on  palsied  feet ;      5 
Crime  and  hunger  cast  our  maidens  by  the  thousand  on  the  street. 
There  the  smoldering  fire  of  fever  creeps  across  the  rotted  floor, 
And  the  crowded  couch  of  incest,  in  the  warrens  of  the  poor. 

Even  in  what  we  call  respectable  society,  forces  of  corruption 
are  at  work.    Are  there  no  unrighteous  practices  in  business,  no  10 
false  standards  in  social  life,  no  licensed  frauds  and  falsehoods 
in  politics,  no  vile  and  vulgar  tendencies  in  art  and  literature 
and  journalism,   in   this   sunny  and  self-complacent  modern 
world  of  which  we  are  apart?    All  these  things  are  signs  of 
decay.    The  question  for  us  as  men  of  salt  is  :    What  are  we  15 
going  to  do  to  arrest  and  counteract  these  tendencies?    It  is 
not  enough  for  us  to  take  a  negative  position  in  regard  to 
them.    If  our   influence  is   to  be   real,  it  must  be  positive. 
It  is  not  enough  to  say  "  Touch  not  the  unclean  thing."    On 
the  contrary,    we   must   touch   it,   as    salt    touches  decay  to  20 
check  and  overcome  it.   Good  men  are  not  meant  to  be  simply 
like  trees  planted  by  rivers  of  water,  flourishing  in  their  own 
pride   and   for   their  own  sake.    They  ought   to  be   like   the 
eucalyptus  trees  which  have  been  set  out  in  the  marshes  of  the 
Campagna,  from   which  a  healthful,   tonic   influence  is   said  25 
to  be  diffused  to  countervail  the  malaria.    They  ought  to  be 
like  the  tree  of  paradise,  "whose  leaves  are  for  the  healing 
of  nations." 

15.  Where  good  men  are  in  business,  lying  and  cheating 
and  gambling  should  be  more  difficult,  truth  and  candor  and  30 
fair  dealing  should  be  easier  and  more  popular,  just  because  of 
their  presence.  Where  good  men  are  in  society,  grossness  of 
thought  and  speech  ought  to  stand  rebuked,  high  ideals  and 
courtliness  and  chivalrous  actions  and  "  the  desire  of  fame  and 


332  SALT 

all  that  makes  a  man  "  ought  to  seem  at  once  more  desirable 
and  more  attainable  to  every  one  who  comes  into  contact  with 
them. 

1 6.  There  have  been  men  of  this  quality  in  the  world.    It  is 
5  recorded  of  Bernardino  of  Siena,  that  when  he  came,  into  the 

room,  his  gentleness  and  purity  were  so  evident  that  all  that 
was  base  and  silly  in  the  talk  of  his  companions  was  abashed  and 
fell  into  silence.  Artists  like  Fra  Angelico  have  made  their 
pictures  like  prayers.  Warriors  like  the  Chevalier  Bayard  and 

10  Sir  Philip  Sidney  and  Henry  Havelock  and  Chinese  Gordon 
have  dwelt  amid  camps  and  conflicts  as  Knights  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Philosophers  like  John  Locke  and  George  Berkeley, 
men  of  science  like  Newton  and  Herschel,  poets  like  Words 
worth  and  Tennyson  and  Browning,  have  taught  virtue  by  their 

15  lives  as  well  as  wisdom  by  their  works.  Humanitarians  like 
Howard  and  Wilberforce  and  Raikes  and  Charles  Brace  have 
given  themselves  to  noble  causes.  Every  man  who  will  has  it 
in  his  power  to  make  his  life  count  for  something  positive  in 
the  redemption  of  society.  And  this  is  what  every  man  of 

20  moral  principle  is  bound  to  do  if  he  wants  to  belong  to  the 
salt  of  the  earth. 

17.  There  is  a  loftier  ambition  than  merely  to  stand  high  in 
the  world.    It  is  to  stoop  down  and  lift  mankind  a  little  higher. 
There  is  a  nobler  character  than  that  which  is  merely  incor- 

25  ruptlble.  It  is  the  character  which  acts  as  an  antidote  and 
preventive  of  corruption.  Fearlessly  to  speak  the  words  which 
bear  witness  to  righteousness  and  truth  and  purity  ;  patiently  to 
do  the  deeds  which  strengthen  virtue  and  kindle  hope  in  your 
fellow-men ;  generously  to  lend  a  hand  to  those  who  are  trying 

30  to  climb  upward;  faithfully  to  give  your  support  and  your 
personal  help  to  the  efforts  which  are  making  to  elevate  and 
purify  the  social  life  of  the  world, — that  is  what  it  means  to  have 
salt  in  your  character.  And  that  is  the  way  to  make  your  life 
interesting  and  savory  and  powerful.  The  men  that  have  been 


VAN    DYKE  333 

happiest,  and  the  men  that  are  the  best  remembered,  are  the 
men  that  have  done  good. 

1 8.  What  the  world  needs  to-day  is  not  a  new  system  of  ethics. 
It  is  simply  a  larger  number  of  people  who  will  make  a  steady 
effort  to  live  up  to  the  system  that  they  have  already.  There  is    5 
plenty  of  room  for  heroism  in  the  plainest  kind  of  duty.    The 
greatest  of  all  wars  has  been  going  on  for  centuries.    It  is  the 
ceaseless,  glorious  conflict  against  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world. 
Every  warrior  who  will  enter  that  age-long  battle  may  find  a 
place  in  the  army,  and  win  his  spurs,  and  achieve  honor,  and  10 
obtain  favor  with  the  great  Captain  of  the  Host,  if  he  will  but  do 
his  best  to  make  his  life  purer  and  finer  for  every  one  that  lives. 

19.  It  is  one  of  the   burning  questions  of  to-day  whether 
university  life  and  training  really  fit  men  for  taking  their  share 

in  this  supreme  conflict.  There  is  no  abstract  answer;  but  15 
every  college  class  that  graduates  is  a  part  of  the  concrete 
answer.  Therein  lies  your  responsibility,  Gentlemen.  It  lies 
with  you  to  illustrate  the  meanness  of  an  education  which 
produces  learned  shirks  and  refined  skulkers;  or  to  illumi 
nate  the  perfection  of  unselfish  culture  with  the  light  of  devo-  20 
tion  to  humanity.  It  lies  with  you  to  confess  that  you  have 
not  been  strong  enough  to  assimilate  your  privileges ;  or  to 
prove  that  you  are  able  to  use  all  that  you  have  learned  for 
the  end  for  which  it  was  intended.  I  believe  the  difference 
in  the  results  depends  very  much  less  upon  the  educational  sys-  25 
tern  than  it  does  upon  the  personal  quality  of  the  teachers  and 
the  men.  Richard  Person  was  a  university  man,  and  he  seemed 
to  live  chiefly  to  drink  port  and  read  Greek.  Thomas  Guthrie 
was  a  university  man,  and  he  proved  that  he  meant  what  he 
said  in  his  earnest  verse,  —  30 

I  live  for  those  who  love  me, 

For  those  who  know  me  true, 
For  the  heaven  that  bends  above  me, 

And  the  good  that  I  can  do ; 


334  SALT 

For  the  wrongs  that  need  resistance, 
For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance, 
For  the  future  in  the  distance, 
And  the  good  that  I  can  do. 

5  20.  III.  It  remains  only  to  speak  briefly,  in  the  third  place, 
of  the  part  which  religion  ought  to  play  in  the  purifying,  pre 
serving,  and  sweetening  of  society.  Hitherto  I  have  spoken  to 
you  simply  as  men  of  intelligence  and  men  of  principle.  But 
the  loftiest  reach  of  reason  and  the  strongest  inspiration  of 

10  morality  is  religious  faith.  I  know  there  are  some  thought 
ful  men,  upright  men,  unselfish  and  useful  men,  who  say  that 
they  have  no  such  faith.  But  they  are  very  few.  And  the  reason 
of  their  rarity  is  because  it  is  immensely  difficult  to  be  unselfish 
and  useful  and  thoughtful,  without  a  conscious  faith  in  God, 

15  and  in  the  divine  law,  and  in,  the  gospel  of  salvation,  and  in 
the  future  life.  I  trust  that  none  of  you  are  going  to  try  that 
desperate  experiment.  I  trust  that  all  of  you  have  religion  to 
guide  and  sustain  you  in  life's  hard  and  perilous  adventure. 
If  you  have,  I  beg  you  to  make  sure  that  it  is  the  right  kind  of 

20  religion.  The  name  makes  little  difference.  The  outward  form 
makes  little  difference.  The  test  of  its  reality  is  its  power  to 
cleanse  life  and  make  it  worth  living ;  to  save  the  things  that  are 
most  precious  in  our  existence  from  corruption  and  decay ;  to 
lend  a  new  luster  to  our  ideals  and  to  feed  our  hopes  with 

25  inextinguishable  light ;  to  produce  characters  which  shall  ful 
fill  Christ's  word  and  be  the  salt  of  the  earth. 

21.  Religion  is  something  which  a  man  cannot  invent  for 
himself,  nor  keep  to  himself.  If  it  does  not  show  .in  his  con 
duct  it  does  not  exist  in  his  heart.  If  he  has  just  barely  enough 

30  of  it  to  save  himself  alone,  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  has  even 
enough  for  that.  Religion  ought  to  bring  out  and  intensify  the 
flavor  of  all  that  is  best  in  manhood,  and  make  it  fit,  to  use 
Wordsworth's  noble  phrase, 

For  human  nature's  daily  food. 


VAN   DYKE  335 

Good  citizens,  honest  workmen,  cheerful  comrades,  true  friends, 
gentle  men,  —  that  is  what  the  product  of  religion  should  be. 
And  the  power  that  produces  such  men  is  the  great  antiseptic 
of  society,  to  preserve  it  from  decay. 

22.  Decay  begins  in  discord.    It  is  the  loss  of  balance  in  an    5 
organism.    One  part  of  the  system  gets  too  much  nourishment, 
another  part  too  little.    Morbid  processes  are  established.    Tis 
sues  break  down.    In  their  debris  all  sorts  of  malignant  growths 
take  root.    Ruin  follows. 

23.  Now  this  is  precisely  the  danger  to  which  the  social  10 
organism  is  exposed.    From  this  danger  religion  is  meant  to 
preserve  us.    Certainly  there  can  be  no  true  Christianity  which 
does  not  aim  at  this  result.    It  should  be  a  balancing,  compen 
sating,  regulating  power.    It  should  keep  the  relations  between 
man  and  man,  between  class  and  class,,  normal  and  healthful  15 
and  mutually  beneficent.    It  should  humble  the  pride  of  the 
rich,  and  moderate  the  envy  of  the  poor.    It  should  soften  and 
ameliorate  the  unavoidable  inequalities  of  life,  and  transform 
them  from  causes  of  jealous  hatred  into  opportunities  of  loving 
and  generous  service.    If  it  fails  to  do  this  it  is  salt  without  20 
savor,  and  when  a  social  revolution  comes,  as  the  consequence 

of  social  corruption,  men  will  cast  out  the  unsalted  religion 
and  tread  it  under  foot. 

24.  Was  not  this  what  happened  in  the  French  Revolution? 
What  did  men  care  for  the  religion  that  had  failed  to  curb  25 
sensuality  and  pride  and  cruelty  under  the  oppression  of  the 
old  regime,  the  religion  that  had  forgotten  to  deal  bread  to  the 
hungry,  to  comfort  the  afflicted,  to  break  every  yoke,  and  let 
the  oppressed  go  free?    What  did  they  care  for  the  religion 
that  had  done  little  or  nothing  to  make  men  understand  and  30 
love  and  help  one  another?    Nothing.    It  was  the  first  thing 
that  they  threw  away  in  the  madness  of  their  revolt  and  trampled 
in  the  mire  of  their  contempt. 

2  5 .  But  was  the  world  much  better  off  without  that  false  kind 
of  religion  than  with  it?    Did  the  Revolution  really  accomplish  35 


336  SALT 

anything  for  the  purification  and  preservation  of  society? 
No,  it  only  turned  things  upside  down,  and  brought  the  ele 
ments  that  had  been  at  the  bottom  to  the  top.  It  did  not  really 
change  the  elements,  or  sweeten  life,  or  arrest  the  processes  of 
5  decay.  The  only  thing  that  can  do  this  is  the  true  kind  of 
religion,  which  brings  men  closer  to  one  another  by  bringing 
them  all  nearer  to  God. 

26.  Some  people  say  that  another  revolution  is  coming  in 
our  own  age  and  our  own  country.    It  is  possible.    There  are 

10  signs  of  it.  There  has  been  a  tremendous  increase  of  luxury 
among  the  rich  in  the  present  generation.  There  has  been  a 
great  increase  of  suffering  among  the  poor  in  certain  sections 
of  our  country.  It  was  a  startling  fact  that  nearly  six  millions 
of  people  in  1896  cast  a  vote  of  practical  discontent  with  the 

15  present  social  and  commercial  order.  It  may  be  that  we  are 
on  the  eve  of  a  great  overturning.  I  do  not  know.  I  am  not 
a  prophet  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet.  But  I  know  that  there  is 
one  thing  that  can  make  a  revolution  needless,  one  thing  that  is 
infinitely  better  than  any  revolution,  and  that  is  a  real  revival 

20  of  religion  —  the  religion  that  has  already  founded  the  hospital 
and  the  asylum  and  the  free  school,  the  religion  that  has  broken 
the  fetters  of  the  slave  and  lifted  womanhood  out  of  bondage 
and  degradation,  and  put  the  arm  of  its  protection  around 
the  helplessness  and  innocence  of  childhood,  the  religion  that 

25  proves  its  faith  by  its  works,  and  links  the  preaching  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  to  the  practice  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
That  religion  is  true  Christianity,  with  plenty  of  salt  in  it  which 
has  not  lost  its  savor.  . 

27.  I  believe  that  we  are  even  now  in  the  beginning  of  a 
30  renaissance  of  such  religion.    I  believe  that  there  is  a  rising 

tide  of  desire  to  find  the  true  meaning  of  Christ's  teaching,  to 
feel  the  true  power  of  Christ's  life,  to  interpret  the  true  signifi  - 
canoe  of  Christ's  sacrifice  for  the  redemption  of  mankind.  I 
believe  that  never  before  were  there  so  many  young  men  of, 


VAN   DYKE 


337 


culture,  of  intelligence,  of  character,  passionately  in  earnest  to 
find  the  way  of  making  their  religion  speak,  not  in  word  only, 
but  in  power.  I  call  you  to-day,  my  brethren,  to  take  your 
part,  not  with  the  idle,  the  frivolous,  the  faithless,  the  selfish, 
the  gilded  youth,  but  with  the  earnest,  the  manly,  the  devout,  5 
the  devoted,  the  golden  youth.  I  summon  you  to  do  your  share 
in  the  renaissance  of  religion  for  your  own  sake,  for  your  fellow- 
men's  sake,  for  your  country's  sake.  On  this  fair  Sunday,  when 
all  around  us  tells  of  bright  hope  and  glorious  promise,  let  the 
vision  of  our  country,  with  her  perils,  with  her  opportunities,  10 
with  her  temptations,  with  her  splendid  powers,  with  her  threat 
ening  sins,  rise  before  our  souls.  What  needs  she  more,  in  this 
hour,  than  the  cleansing,  saving,  conserving  influence  of  right 
religion?  What  better  service  could  we  render  her  than  to  set 
our  lives  to  the  tune  of  these  words  of  Christ,  and  be  indeed  15 
the  salt  of  our  country,  and,  through  her  growing  power,  of  the 
whole  earth?  Ah,  bright  will  be  the  day,  and  full  of  glory,  when 
the  bells  of  every  church,  of  every  schoolhouse,  of  every  col 
lege,  of  every  university,  ring  with  the  music  of  this  message, 
and  find  their  echo  in  the  hearts  of  the  youth  of  America.  20 
That  will  be  the  chime  of  a  new  age. 

» 
Ring  in  the  valiant  man  and  free, 

The  larger  heart,  the  kindlier  hand ; 
Ring  out  the  darkness  of  the  land, 

King  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be.  25 


NOTES 

CONCILIATION  WITH  THE  AMERICAN  COLONIES  — 
BURKE 

Bibliography.  Prior,  Life  of  Biirke  ;  John  Morley,  Burke,  in  the 
English  Men  of  Letters  Series,  and  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica; 
William  Hazlitt,  "  The  Character  of  Burke,"  in  his  Essays,  pp.  408- 
426;  Boswell,  Life  of  Johnson  (see  Index);  Leslie  Stephen,  History  of 
English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth  Century,  Vol.  II ;  Green,  Short 
History  of  the  English  People  ;  Buckle,  History  of  Civilization  in  Eng 
land,  Vol.  I,  pp.  326-338 ;  Fiske,  The  American  Revolution,  Vol.  I, 
Chaps.  I,  II.  To  the  article  on  Burke  in  the  Dictionary  of  National 
Biography  a  valuable  bibliography  is  appended. 

Chronology  of  More  Aroteworthy  Writing's  and  Speeches.  1756  —  A 
Vindication  of  Natural  Society;  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful; 
Hints  on  the  Drama ;  An  Abridgment  of  the  History  of  England ;  and 
An  Account  of  the  European  Settlements.  1759  —  A  thirty-years  con 
nection  with  the  Annual  Register  began.  1766  —  Speech  on  the  Repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act.  1770  —  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Dis 
contents.  1774  —  Speech  on  American  Taxation.  1775  —  Speech  on 
Conciliation  with  the  American  Colonies.  1777  —  Letter  to  the  Sheriffs 
of  Bristol  on  the  Affairs  of  America.  1785  —  Speech  on  the  Nabob  of 
Arcot's  Debts.  1 788  —  The  Impeachment  of  Warren  Hastings.  1 790  — 
Reflections  on  the  Revolution  in  France.  1 794  —  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord. 

In  the  study  of  this  speech,  whatever  may  be  the  method  of  approach 
by  the  individual  student  or  teacher,  some  time,  certainly,  should  be 
devoted  to  the  argumentative  structure.  And  although  a  laborious  and 
time-taking  process,  the  best  way  for  the  student  to  get  a  thorough 
grasp  of  the  argument  as  a  whole  is  to  write  a  brief  of  it.  The  preferred 
form  of  a  brief  has  the  following  characteristics  :  Each  heading  is  in  the 
form  of  a  complete  sentence  and  contains  but  a  single  argument.'  The 
main  arguments  are  stated  in  a  series  of  propositions  which  read  as 
reasons  for  the  conclusion  to  be  reached,  or  the  main  proposition.  Then 
under  each  proposition  of  the  first  rank  are  such  subheadings  as  support 
such  proposition.  These  subheadings  may  themselves  be  supported 
by  sub-subheadings,  and  so  on.  Every  subhead  must  always  read  as  a 
reason  for  the  heading  under  which  it.  stands.  All  subheadings  of  the 
same  rank  should  be  regularly  indented,  so  that  the  reader  may  see  at 
a  glance  the  place  of  any  heading  in  the  argument. 

Below  is  a  skeleton  brief  of  the  speech  as  a  whole  (a  few  minor 
arguments  being  omitted).  The  main  arguments  —  the  propositions  of 
first  rank  —  are  given,  but  most  of  the  arguments  in  support  of  the 

339 


340 


NOTES 


main  propositions  are  left  for  the  student  to  discover  and  insert.  Bear 
in  mind  that  each  heading  should  be  stated  in  the  form  of  a  complete 
sentence.  Use  Burke's  own  words,  wherever  practicable.  In  many  of 
the  paragraphs  will  be  found  a  key-sentence  which  contains  the  gist  of 
the  whole  paragraph  ;  in  all  such  cases,  simply  copy  such  key-sentences 
for  the  required  heading.  The  arabic  numerals  in  parentheses  are 
paragraph-references. 

INTRODUCTION 

I.  By  the  return  of  the  Grand  Penal  Bill  from  the  House  of  Lords, 
we  are  now  in  a  position  to  determine  de  novo  upon  a  definite 
policy  regarding  the  American  colonies,  (i) 

II.  Having  studied  the  subject,  I  have  arrived  at  certain  fixed  con 
clusions.  (2,  3) 

III.  My  attitude  toward  America  has  not  changed,  while  Parliament 

has  pursued  a  policy  of  shifting  experiments.   (4) 

IV.  The  policy  that  I  desire  to  urge  must  stand  or  fall  solely  on  its 

merits.   (5) 

V.   My  proposition  is  to  remove  the  grounds  of  difference  between 
England  and  the  colonies  and  thereby  establish  permanent 
peace.  (6,  7) 
VI.  My  plan  has  certain  presumptions  in  its  favor,  because 

A.  By  accepting  Lord  North's  plan,  the  House  has  conceded 

that  the  idea  of  conciliation  is  admissible.  (8) 

B.  The  House  has  declared  conciliation  admissible  previous  to 

any  submission  on  the  part  of  America.  (9) 

C.  The    House    has    admitted    that    the    colonists'  complaints 

regarding  taxation  were  not  unfounded.   (9) 
VII.  The  proposal  of  conciliation  should  come  from  us  (10),  for, 

A.  England  is  the  superior  power.  (10) 

B.  The  concessions  of  the  weak  are  the  concessions  of  fear.  (10) 
VIII.   The  two  main  issues  are  :  First,  Ought  you  to  concede  ?  Second, 

What  ought  your  concession  to  be  ?  (11) 

ARGUMENT 

I.  Circumstances  in  the  American  colonies  demand  conciliation 
(u),  for 

A .  ( 1 2,  13)  —  [Put  the  gist  of  paragraphs  12  and 13  in  a  single 
sentence,  making  it  read  as  a  reason  for  the  above  propo 
sition.    Follow  this  same  plan  in  fitting  out  all  the  succeed 
ing  blank  headings^ 

B.  (14-25) 

C.  (26) 

D.  (27) 

II.  The  temper  and  character  of  the  Americans  demand  conciliation 
(28),  for, 
A.  (29),  for, 

1-  (30) 

2-  (30 


BURKE  341 

B.  (32) 

C.  (33) 

III.  Our  experiments  in  governing  the  colonists  have  proved  unsuc 

cessful  (34,  35),  for, 
A-  (35) 
B-  (35) 

c.  (36) 

IV.  Of  the  three  proposed  plans  (37)  for  governing  the  colonies,  we 

must  adopt  that  of  conciliation,  for, 

A.  (38),  for, 

1.  (39),  for, 

«-  (39) 
b.  (40) 

2.  (42) 

3-  (44) 

4-  (45) 

B.  (46),  for, 

1-  (47) 

2-  (48) 

3-  (49) 
C-  (51) 

V.  The  measures  for  conciliation  should  satisfy  the  colonists'  com 
plaint  regarding  taxation,  for, 
A-  (52) 
B-  (53) 
C-  (54) 

VI.  The  argument  that  the  grievance  of  taxation  extends  to  all  legis 
lation,  and  that  by  conceding  this  grievance  the  supremacy 
of  Parliament  would  be  threatened,  cannot  stand  (58),  for, 

A.  (59) 

B.  (60) 

C.  (61) 
D.    (62) 

VII.  My  plan  for  conciliating  the  colonies  is  better  than  Lord  North's 
(63),  for, 


A.   (64) 

B.  (65),  for, 

'•  (65) 

C.  (66),  for, 

i.  (66) 

D.   (67),  for, 

i.  (67) 

2.  (68) 

3-  (69) 

4-  (70) 

5-  (7i), 

for, 

a.  (71) 

E.  (72) 

P>  (73) 

C.  (76) 

342  NOTES 

CONCLUSION 

I.  The  American  colonists  must  be  governed,  not  by  arbitrary  laws, 

but  by  their  interest  in  the  British  Constitution.  (77) 
II.   Magnanimity  in  dealing  with  the  colonies  is  the  truest  wisdom. 

(79) 

III.  English  privileges  have  made  America  what  it  is ;  English  privi 
leges  alone  will  make  it  all  it  can  be.  (79) 

11 1  austerity  of  the  Chair :  the  dignity  and  impartiality  of  the  speaker. 
Hazlitt  says  that  "  most  of  Burke's  speeches  have  a  sort  of  parliamen 
tary  preamble;  there  is  an  air  of  affected  modesty  and  ostentatious 
trifling  in  them."  Does  the  criticism  apply  to  this  speech?  —  8  grand 
penal  bill :  this  bill,  which  originated  with  Lord  North,  was  passed  by 
the  House  of  Commons  in  1775.  It  restricted  the  trade  of  the  New 
England  colonies  to  England  and  her  dependencies,  and  practically  pro 
hibited  those  colonies  from  the  use  of  the  Newfoundland  fisheries.  The 
Lords  returned  the  bill  with  a  savage  amendment  making  it  apply  to  all 
the  American  colonies.  The  amendment  was  afterwards  withdrawn. 

1219  At  that  period:  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1766.  The 
vote  stood  275  for  repeal  to  161  against.  Burke  made  a  strong  speech 
in  favor  of  the  repeal,  he  having  entered  Parliament  the  previous  year. 
—  34  continual  agitation:  for  a  period  of  nearly  one  hundred  years  the 
affairs  of  the  colonies  had  been  intrusted  to  a  standing  committee 
called  "  The  Lords  of  Trade."  To  them  the  colonial  governors,  who 
were  appointed  by  the  king,  gave  full  accounts  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  colonial  legislatures.  These  reports,  often  colored  by  personal 
prejudice,  did  not  always  represent  the  colonies  in  the  best  light.  It 
was  mainly  through  the  influence  of  one  of  the  former  Lords  of  Trade, 
Charles  Townshend,  who  afterwards  became  the  leading  voice  in  the 
Pitt  ministry,  that  the  Stamp  Act  was  passed.  —  Everything  administered 
as  remedy :  the  Tea-tax,  Boston  Port  Bill,  Massachusetts  Colony  Bill, 
Transportation  Act,  and  Quebec  Act.  Note  the  "shifting  experiments " 
argument  in  the  word-expression  throughout  this  paragraph. 

141  unsuspecting  confidence:  a  term  used  by  the  Philadelphia  Con 
gress  in  1774  to  express  the  state  of  feeling  in  the  colonies  after  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  — 17  the  project:  (not  to  be  confused  with  the 
"  grand  penal  bill ")  is  referred  to  in  the  Introduction  to  this  speech. 
On  February  27,  1775,  the  House  passed  resolutions  brought  in  by 
Lord'  North,  entitled  "  Propositions  for  Conciliating  the  Differences 
with  America,"  which  provided  that  any  colony  which  voluntarily  con 
tributed  its  proportionate  share  for  the  common  defense  and  support 


BURKE  343 

of  the  English  government,  and  in  addition  made  provision  for  the 
support  of  its  local  government,  should  be  exempt  from  taxation, 
except  such  as  was  necessary  for  the  regulation  of  commerce.  It  has 
been  declared  by  some  that  the  measure  was  meant  in  good  faith. 
Burke  argued  that  the  intention  was  to  cause  dissension  and  divi 
sion  among  the  colonies.  (See  4720-24.)  — 18  the  noble  lord  in  the 
blue  ribbon:  Frederick  North,  Prime  Minister  from  1770  till  1782,  and 
largely  responsible  for  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from  England. 
A  broad,  dark  blue  ribbon  worn  across  the  breast  is  the  badge  of 
the  famous  Order  of  the  Garter,  a  decoration  rarely  conferred  upon  com 
moners,  and  therefore  often  mentioned  by  Burke  in  speaking  of  Lord 
North.  —  20  colony  agents:  the  colonies,  not  having  direct  representa 
tion  in  Parliament,  engaged  agents  to  watch  their  interests  there. 
Burke  himself  was  such  an  agent  for  New  York  for  a  short  time. — 
mace:  the  symbol  of  the  authority  of  the  House  of  Commons.  When 
the  ordinary  call  for  order  is  ineffective  to  quell  disturbance,  the  ser- 
geant-at-arms,  at  the  speaker's  direction,  takes  up  the  mace  and  con 
fronts  the  disorderly  members.  There  is  in  the  speaker's  power  but 
one  last  resource  more  dreaded,  and  that  is  to  "name"  the  disorderly 
member.  —  31  menacing  front  of  our  address:  on  February  9,  1775, 
Parliament  had  presented  an  address  to  the  king  declaring  that  no  part 
of  his  authority  over  the  colonies  should  be  relinquished.  The  imme 
diate  cause  of  this  address  was  the  Boston  Tea  Party. 

16  15  lay  before  you :  transition  to  the  next  main  division  of  the 
speech,  —  the  Statement  of  Facts. 

179  minima:  trifles.  De  minimis  non  curat  lex,  the  law  takes  no 
account  of  trifles.  —  25  person  at  your  bar :  this  was  a  Mr.  Glover, 
esteemed  a  poet  in  his  day,  who  presented  a  petition  from  the  West 
India  planters,  praying  that  peace  might  be  made  with  the  American 
colonies.  The  "bar"  is  a  movable  rail  in  the  main  aisle,  beyond  which 
none  but  officers  and  members  are  allowed  to  pass.  All  other  persons,  if 
permitted  to  address  the  House,  must  do  so  standing  outside  this  barrier. 

18  21  African  :  the  slave  trade,  principally.  The  exports  from  Eng 
land  to  Africa  consisted  almost  wholly  of  articles  used  in  barter  for 
slaves,  who  were  shipped  thence  to  the  colonies  ;  hence  rightly  regarded 
by  Burke  as  a  branch  of  England's  export  trade  to  the  colonies. 

20  1(5  Lord  Bathurst :  born  1684  ;  took  his  seat  in  Parliament  in  1705  ; 
died  September,  1775.  His  name  has  become  a  synonym  for  longevity. 
The  argumentative  value  of  Burke's  excursus  at  this  point,  and  espe 
cially  its  adaptability  to  the  needs  of  a  business  speaker  in  a  delib 
erative  body,  may  be  questioned,  but  the  attempt  is  carried  out  with 


344  NOTES 

characteristic  opulence  and  splendor.  —  18  acta  parentum,  etc. :  to  read 
about  the  deeds  of  his  forefathers,  and  able  to  comprehend  what  virtue 
is.  Adapted  from  Virgil,  Eclogues,  IV,  26. 

22  18  Roman  charity :  according  to  an  old  Roman  story,  a  father 
condemned  to  die  by  starvation  is  visited  in  prison  by  his  daughter, 
who  secretly  nourishes  him  from  her  own  breasts. 

26  12-18  I  have  been  told  .  .  .  I  hear  .  .  .  General  Gage:  note  the 
relative  value  of  the  authorities  cited.— 21  successful  chicane:  "Bos 
ton  held  a  town-meeting.  Gage  reminded  the  selectmen  of  the  act  of 
Parliament  restricting  town-meetings  without  the  governor's  leave.  '  It 
is  only  an  adjourned  one,'  said  the  selectmen.  '  By  such  means,'  said 
Gage,  '  you  may  keep  your  meeting  alive  these  ten  years.'  He  brought 
the  subject  before  the  new  council.  « It  is  a  point  of  law,'  said  they, 
'  and  should  be  referred  to  the  Crown  lawyers.' "  (Bancroft,  IV,  49.) 
—  26  learned  friend  on  the  floor :  Thurlow,  the  attorney-general,  who  as 

a  member  of  the  cabinet  was  sitting  on  the  lowest  tier  of  benches. 

33  Abeunt  studia  in  mores :  studies  become  a  part  of  character.  (Ovid, 
Heroides,  XV,  83.) 

30  5  abrogated  the  ancient  government  of  Massachusetts  :  by  a  law 
passed  May  10,  1774,  which  vested  in  the  Crown  the  selection  of  the 
council,  or  higher  branch  of  the  legislature,  prohibited  public  meet 
ings   without    the   king's    consent,    and   gave    to   the    royal   governor 
power  to  appoint   and   remove  all  judges.    The   law  was   practically 
ignored. 

31  7  three  ways  of  proceeding:  here  is  begun  an  argument  by  exclu 
sion,  or  the  Method  of  Residues.  (See  37  23.)  —14  giving  up  the  colo 
nies  :    this  was  seriously  proposed  and  ably  defended  by  Dr.  Tucker, 
Dean  of  Gloucester,  on  the  ground  that  England  would  have  the  trade 
of  the  colonies  whether  she  owned  them  or  not,  if  she  offered  th.em  the 
best  markets.    In  the  light  of  subsequent  history,  Tucker's  argument,  as 
Goldwin  Smith  points  out,  deserved  more  serious  consideration  than 
Burke  accorded  it. 

34  28  If  then,  Sir,  etc. :  note  here,  and  throughout  the  speech,  how 
the  summary,  and  the  transition  to  the  next  line  of  argument,  aid  in 
following  the  argument  as  a  whole. 

35  10  Sir  Edward  Coke:  attorney-general  in  1603,  when  Raleigh  was 
tried  for  treason,  who  assailed  the  defendant  in  most  unjust  and  brutal 
terms :  "  Thou  hast  an  English  face,  but  a  Spanish  heart,  and  thyself 
art  a  spider  of  hell ! " 

36  3  ex  vi  termini :  from  the  force  of  the  term. 

38  25  Serbonian  bog,  etc. :  Paradise  Lost,  II,  592-594. 


WEBSTER  345 

402  grant:  voluntary  contribution  of  the  colonies. — imposition:  a 
tax  imposed  by  Parliament.  — 14  temple  of  British  concord  :  an  allusion 
to  the  Temple  of  Concord  at  Rome. 

44  17  Experimentum  in  corpore  vili :  experiments  should  be  tried  on 
objects  of  no  value. 

47  9  Treasury  Extent:  a  summary  process  to  recover  debts  due  the 
Crown,  differing  from  an  ordinary  writ  of  execution  in  that  under  it  the 
body,  lands,  and  goods  of  a  debtor  may  all  be  seized  at  once.  — 33  Com 
pare  the  two :  note  the  convincing  force  of  balancing  the  two  plans, 
(paragraph  72),  by  way  of  summary. 

48  31  Posita  luditur  area :  the  treasure-chest  is  staked  on  the  game. 

50  28  For  that  service  :  begins  the  peroration,  which,  with  its  com 
bined  summary  and  appeal,  its  strength  and  passion,  is  in  Burke's  best 
style,  and  has  long  been  admired  as  a  classic  model. 

This  speech  shared  the  fate  of  most  of  Burke's  efforts.  It  com 
manded  universal  admiration,  but  \vas  ineffective  in  bringing  about  what 
he  desired.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  speech,  the  previous  question 
(which  in  English  parliamentary  practice  is  a  back-handed  method  of 
tabling)  was  moved,  and  the  resolutions  were  lost  by  a  vote  of  270  to  78. 

The  speech  was  ineffective  in  Parliament  for  three  main  reasons : 
(i)  the  inability  of  the  king  and  the  king's  advisers,  who  based  their 
policy  on  the  reports  of  the  colonial  governors,  to  understand  the  colo 
nists  ;  (2)  the  obstinacy,  and  also  the  political  motives,  of  George  III, 
who  was  impatient  of  any  opposition  to  the  royal  prerogative,  and 
wished  to  strengthen  the  monarchical  power ;  and  (3)  Parliament  was 
not  a  truly  representative  body.  Out  of  8,000,000  people,  only  160,000 
voted  at  elections.  Besides  there  were  many  "  rotten  boroughs,"  the 
members  from  which  gained  their  seats  through  corruption. 

Although  the  battle  of  Lexington  was  fought  within  a  month  after 
the  delivery  of  this  speech,  how  history  might  have  differed  had  Eng 
land,  even  at  the  eleventh  hour,  followed  Burke's  counsels  !  Says  Mor- 
ley :  "  The  war  of  Independence  was  virtually  a  second  English  civil 
war.  The  ruin  of  the  American  cause  would  have  been  also  the  ruin  of 
the  constitutional  cause  in  England ;  and  a  patriotic  Englishman  may 
revere  the  memory  of  Patrick  Henry  and  George  Washington  not  less 
justly  than  the  patriotic  American.  .Burke's  attitude  in  this  great  con 
test  is  that  part  of  his  history  about  the  majestic  and  noble  wisdom  of 
which  there  can  be  least  dispute." 


THE  MURDER  OF  CAPTAIN  JOSEPH  WHITE  —  WEBSTER 

Bibliography.  There  are  many  "  Lives  "  of  Webster,  that  of  George 
Ticknor  Curtis  (1870)  being  standard.  Other  biographies  that  may  be 
mentioned  are  :  Lodge,  in  American  Statesman  Series  (1883) ;  Scudder 
(1882);  and  McMaster  (1902).  Harvey's  Reminiscences  of  Daniel  Web 
ster  is  a  most  readable  book.  Webster's  works  have  been  issued  in 


346  NOTES 

six  volumes,  with  a  memoir  by  Edward  Everett.  A  later  edition  (1903), 
in  sixteen  volumes,  includes  many  early  addresses  and  legal  arguments 
hitherto  unpublished.  For  the  general  reader  the  most  usable  edition 
of  his  speeches  is  a  single  volume  —  Webster's  Great  Speeches  —  with  an 
introductory  essay  by  Edwin  Whipple  on  "  Daniel  Webster  as  a  Master 
of  English  Style."  Various  magazine  articles,  on  special  topics,  will  be 
found  listed  in  Poole's  Index. 

Chronology  of  Principal  Speeches.  1818  —  The  Dartmouth  College 
Case.  1820 — Plymouth  Oration.  1824  —  The  Revolution  in  Greece; 
Argument  in  the  case  of  Gibbons  vs.  Ogden.  1825— First  Bunker 
Hill  Oration.  1826 — Oration  jon  Adams  and  Jefferson.  1827  — 
Argument  in  the  case  of  Ogden  vs.  Saunders.  1830  —  Reply  to  Hayne  ; 
Jury  Address  in  the  White  Murder  Case.  1832  —  Oration  on  Washing 
ton.  1833  —  The  Constitution  not  a  Compact  between  Sovereign 
States.  1843— Oration  on  the  Pilgrims;  Second  Bunker  Hill  Oration. 
!848  —  Exclusion  of  Slavery  from  the  Territories;  Eulogy  of  Jeremiah 
Mason.  1849  —  Eulogy  of  Kossuth.  1850  —  The  Constitution  and  the 
Union  (the  "  Seventh  of  March  "  Speech). 

A  cursory  reading  of  this  address  will  at  once  reveal  its  coherency 
and  logical  sequence.  The  argument  proper  is  based  on  two  main 
propositions  :  (i)  The  murder  was  in  pursuance  of  a  conspiracy,  and  the 
prisoner  was  one  of  the  conspirators  (paragraph  20) ;  (2)  the  prisoner 
was  present  at  the  murder,  aiding  and  abetting  therein  (paragraph  51), 
and  is  therefore  guilty  as  a  principal.  In  support  of  these  twro  proposi 
tions,  the  circumstantial  and  direct  evidence  is  reviewed  in  detail,  the 
inferences  therefrom  are  deduced  from  time  to  time,  followed  by  a  gen 
eral  summary  at  the  close  (paragraph  123),  the  speech  being  concluded 
with  a  brief,  strong  appeal  (paragraphs  124,  125).  Let  the  student,  if 
time  permits,  make  a  brief  of  the  speech,  following  the  form  given  in 
the  notes  on  Burke. 

67  10  Moloch :  the  chief  god  of  the  Phoenicians,  frequently  mentioned 
in  Scripture  as  the  god  of  the  Ammonites,wThose  worship  consisted  chiefly 
of  human  sacrifices.  See  Jeremiah  xxxii.  35  ;  2  Kings  xvii.  31 ;  Paradise 
Lost,  I,  392-398.  By  extension,  the  word  means  any  baneful  influence 
to  which  everything  is  sacrificed ;  as,  the  guillotine  was  the  Moloch  of 
the  French  Revolution.  — 19  spread  out  the  whole  scene  before  us: 
Webster  gets  many  of  these  details  from  Joseph  Knapp's  previous  con 
fession.  What  is  gained  by  thus  detailing  the  horrors  of  the  crime  ? 
Mr.  Lodge  says  that  "  Webster's  description  of  the  White  murder,  and 
of  the  ghastly  haunting  sense  of  guilt  which  pursued  the  assassin,  has 
neveV  been  surpassed  in  dramatic  force  by  any  speaker,  whether  in 
debate  or  before  a  jury." 

7118  "Goodridge  robbery":  Webster  was  the  principal  "counsel 
for  the  prisoner  "  in  this  case,  and  succeeded  in  unraveling  a  compli 
cated  set  of  facts,  demonstrating  that  the  accuser,  one  Goodridge,  was 
himself  the  guilty  party. 


WEBSTER  347 

735  the  late  Chief  Justice :  Judge  Parker  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
A  special  session  of  this  court  was  ordered  by  the  legislature  for  the 
trial  of  the  prisoners  at  Salem,  in  July.  At  that  time  Frank  Knapp 
was  indicted  as  principal  in  the  murder,  and  George  Crowninshield 
and  Joseph  Knapp  as  accessories.  On  account  of  the  death  of  the 
Chief  Justice  on  July  26  the  court  adjourned  to  August  3,  when  it 
proceeded  in  the  trial  of  Frank  Knapp.  Hence  it  will  be  seen  how 
Webster's  allusion  to  Judge  Parker  added  force  to  the  refutation  at 
this  point. 

77  23  The  letter  from  Palmer.  .  .  .  The  fabricated  letters  from  Knapp  : 
see  86  13  to  88  13  inclusive. 

90  2  He  was  there :  this  accords  with  the  confession  of  Joseph  Knapp. 
See  note  following. 

94  1  His  being  there  is  a  proof,  etc. :  the  presence  of  Frank  Knapp 

in  Brown  Street  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  and  abetting  the  assassin 

and  even  his  presence  there  at  the  time  the  murder  was  committed 

seems  to  have  been  the  weak  part  of  Webster's  case.  The  motive  of 
curiosity,  which  Webster  calls  "  absurd,"  was,  if  Joseph  Knapp's  con 
fession  is  to  be  credited,  the  true  explanation.  He  said  that  Crownin 
shield  and  Frank  Knapp  met  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening,  in  Brown 
Street,  and  stood  some  time  in  a  spot  from  which  they  could  observe 
the  movements  in  the  house ;  that  Crowninshield,  when  he  started  to 
commit  the  murder,  requested  Frank  to  go  home ;  that  Frank  did  go 
home,  retired  to  bed,  but  soon  after  arose  and  secretly  left  his  father's 
house ;  and  that  when  Crowninshield  came  from  Mr.  White's  house  he 
met  Frank  in  Brown  Street,  waiting  to  learn  the  event. 

100  15  made  more  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  court  than  on  my 
own  mind :  this  suggests  an  oft-told  incident  in  the  celebrated  Smith 
Will  trial,  when  the  opposing  counsel,  Mr.  Choate,  quoted  a  decision  of 
Lord  Chancellor  Camden.  In  his  reply  Webster  argued  against  its 
validity  as  though  it  were  a  proposition  laid  down  by  Mr.  Choate.  "But 
it  is  not  mine,  it  is  Lord  Camden's,"  was  the  instant  retort.  Webster 
paused  for  half  a  minute,  and  then,  with  his  eye  fixed  on  the  presiding 
judge,  he  replied,  "Lord  Camden  was  a  great  judge,  .  .  .  but,  may  it 
please  your  honor,  I  differ  from  my  Lord  Camden."  "  There  was 
hardly  a  lawyer  in  the  United  States  who  could  have  made  such  a 
statement  without  exposing  himself  to  ridicule,  but  it  did  not  seem  at 
all  ridiculous  when  the  /  stood  for  Daniel  Webster." 

103  29  Another  Lear,  etc. :  Webster's  handling  of  the  father's  testi 
mony  is  worthy  of  note.  The  masterful  advocate  learns  to  avoid 
bristling  at  all  opposing  testimony. 


348  NOTES 

107  32  a  Hale  or  a  Mansfield:  Sir  Matthew  Hale  (1609-1676),  a  cele 
brated  English  jurist ;  William  Murray,  Earl  of  Mansfield,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench,  1756-1788,  who  has  been  called  "  the  founder  of 
English  commercial  law." 

110  27  rope-walk:  a  long  covered  walk. 

116  10  putting  these  considerations  together:  note  the  general  sum 
mary  of  the  argument  up  to  this  point. 

118  10  The  general  rule  of  law:  at  common  law  confessions  made 
to  clergymen  or  physicians,  in  their  professional  capacity,  were  not 
"privileged  communications,"  and  hence  were  admissible  as  evidence. 
In  some  of  the  states  such  communications  are  privileged  by  statute. 

127  30  do  your  duty,  etc.  :  though  worn  threadbare  in  declamation 
service,  this  eloquent  peroration  may  well  be  carefully  studied  for  those 
merits  alluded  to  in  the  Introduction.  The  simplicity  of  diction  is  not 
more  notable  than  the  self-restraint  and  poise.  There  is  no  violent 
denunciation  of  the  prisoner,  no  effort  to  confuse  or  mislead,  or  to 
sway  the  decision  by  unwholesome  pathos.  "  It  is  for  the  jury  to  say 
under  their  oaths  "  is  an  ever-recurring  phrase  in  all  of  Webster's  jury 
addresses.  The  result  was  that  he  appeared  not  so  much  as  the  mere 
partisan  advocate  bearing  down  upon  the  jurymen  with  his  argument, 
but  rather  as  a  "thirteenth  juryman,"  who  continued  to  argue  the  case 
with  them  after  they  had  retired  for  consultation  among  themselves. 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF  CANNOT 
STAND  — LINCOLN 

Bibliography.  The  standard  work  on  Lincoln  and  his  times  is  that 
of  Nicolay  and  Hay,  in  ten  volumes,  —  Abraham  Lincoln:  A  History. 
Other  biographies  have  been  written  by  Herndon  and  Weik,  Lamon, 
Ida  M.  Tarbell,  Noah  Brooks,  Arnold,  Raymond,  Hapgood,  Morse  (in 
American  Statesman  Series),  and  W.  E.  Curtis,  respectively.  The 
Century  Company  publish  the  complete  works  of  Lincoln.  Other  help 
ful  authorities  are  :  Grant,  Memoirs;  Greeley,  The  American  Conflict; 
A  H.  Stephens,  History  of  the  War  between  the  States ;  and  Elaine, 
Twenty  Years  of  Congress.  Mr.  A.  S.  Boyd  has  a  full  bibliography  in 
the  "  Lincoln  Memorial "  volume. 

Chronology  of  Principal  Speeches  and  Papers.  1832  —  Address  to  the 
People  of  Sangamon  County.  1837  —  The  Perpetuation  of  our  Political 
Institutions :  An  Address  before  the  Young  Men's  Lyceum  of  bpnng- 
field,  Illinois.  1852  — Eulogy  of  Henry  Clay.  1854  — Origin  of  the 
Wilmot  Proviso.  1857  — Discussion  of  the  Dred  Scott  case.  1858 

The  "Divided  House"  Speech;  and  the  seven  joint  Debates  with 

Douglas.  1859  — Speeches  at  Columbus  and  Cincinnati.  1860  — Cooper 


LINCOLN  349 

Institute  Speech.  1861 — First  Inaugural  Address.  1863 — Proclama 
tion  of  Emancipation  and  the  Gettysburg  Address. 

(In  the  following  notes  no  attempt  is  made  to  explain  many  of  the 
historical  allusions.  Such  topics  as  the  Nebraska  Bill,  the  Dred  Scott 
case,  etc.,  may  be  reviewed,  when  necessary,  in  any  standard  American 
history.) 

First  note  the  argumentative  structure  of  this  speech  as  a  whole,  its 
organization  and  orderly  development.  The  argument  is  largely  induc 
tive,  —  the  conclusions  not  being  stated  until  after  adducing  the  proof 
to  sustain  them.  Let  the  student  make  a  brief  of  the  speech,  putting 
the  conclusions  first,  that  is,  in  deductive  form. 

133  2  If  we  could  first  know  where  we  are,  etc. :  compare  with  Web 
ster's  opening  in  his  Reply  to  Hayne.  —  11  half  slave  and  half  free :  the 
same  idea  found  expression  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer,  May  6,  1856, 
quoted  by  Von  Hoist,  VI,  299>  also  referred  to  by  Lincoln.  On  October 
25,  1858,  Seward  made  the  speech  at  Rochester,  New  York,  which  con 
tained  the  famous  sentence  :  "  It  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between 
opposing  and  enduring  forces,  and  it  means  that  the  United  States 
must  and  will,  sooner  or  later,  become  either  entirely  a  slave-holding 
nation  or  entirely  a  free-labor  nation." 

1348  Congressional  prohibition :  the  Missouri  Compromise. — 31  "let 
us  amend  the  bill "  :  the  amendment  was  offered  by  Senator  Salmon  P. 
Chase.  This  question  continued  to  be  a  bone  of  contention  in  the 
Lincoln-Douglas  debates.  In  his  speech  at  Ottawa,  August  21,  1858, 
Douglas  replied  to  Lincoln  on  this  point  as  follows:  "  Chase  offered  a 
proviso  that  they  might  abolish  slavery,  which  by  implication  would 
convey  the  idea  that  they  could  prohibit  by  not  introducing  that  insti 
tution.  General  Cass  asked  him  to  modify  his  amendment  so  as  to 
provide  that  the  people  might  either  prohibit  or  introduce  slavery,  and 
thus  make  it  fair  and  equal.  Chase  refused  to  so  modify  his  proviso, 
and  then  General  Cass  and  all  the  rest  of  us  voted  it  down." 

1 35  24  The  outgoing  President :    Franklin   Pierce.  —  33  The  reputed 
author  of  the  Nebraska  bill :  in  the  first  joint  debate  at  Ottawa,  Douglas 
says  that  he  introduced  the  bill. 

136  2  the  Silliman  letter  :  a  letter  addressed  to  President  Buchanan  by 
the  "electors  of  the  State  of  Connecticut"  in  regard  to  the  situation 
in  Kansas.    In  reply,  the  President  made  the  following  reference  to  the 
Dred  Scott  case  :  "  Slavery  existed  at  that  period  [when  Kansas  was 
organized  as  a  territory]  and  still  exists  in  Kansas,  under  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States.    This  point  has  at  last  been  finally  decided 
by  the  highest  tribunal  known  to  our  laws.    How  it  could  ever  have 
been  seriously  doubted  is  a  mystery."  —  8  Lecompton  Constitution:  formed 


350  NOTES 

by  the  proslavery  men  of  Kansas  in  1857,  the  antislavery  men  having 
withdrawn  from  the  Convention  because  of  alleged  frauds  in  the  selec 
tion  of  delegates  by  the  opposition.  Douglas  believed  that  there  was 
not  a  "fair  vote,"  and  so  opposed  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  by 
Congress.  For  this  stand  he  seems  to  have  deserved  more  credit  than 
Lincoln  here  gives  him. 

138  10  the  niche  for  the  Dred  Scott  decision :  "  It  was  popularly  believed 
that  the  whole  case  was  made  up  in  order  to  afford  an  opportunity  for 
the  political  opinions  delivered  by  the  Court.  This  was  an  extreme  view 
not  justified  by  the  facts.  But  in  the  judgment  of  many  conservative 
men  there  was  a  delay  in  rendering  the  decision  which  had  its  origin 
in  motives  that  should  not  have  influenced  a  judicial  tribunal.  .  .  .  Mr. 
Buchanan  imprudently  announced  in  his  Inaugural  Address  that  « the 
point  of  time  when  the  people  of  a  Territory  can  decide  the  ques 
tion  of  slavery  for  themselves  will  be  speedily  and  finally  settled  by 
the  Supreme  Court.'"  (Elaine  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  I,  132.)— 34 
Stephen  and  Franklin  and  Roger  and  James :  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas, 
ex-President  Franklin  Pierce,  Chief-Justice  Roger  B.  Taney,  and  Presi 
dent  James  Buchanan. 

13921  McLean  .  .  .  Curtis:  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  who  dissented  from  the  majority  opinion.  —  29  Nelson:  another 
Associate  Justice,  who  concurred  with  the  majority  on  the  main  issues, 
but  made  a  separate  statement  of  some  points. 

14027  quarrel:  see  136  8,  note.  Douglas's  stand  in  opposing  the 
Lecompton  Constitution  led  many  of  the  more  conservative  Republi 
cans,  notably  Horace  Greeley  and  Schuyler  Colfax,  openly  or  secretly 
to  favor  his  election  over  Lincoln.  —  31  "A  living  dog,"  etc.:  Ecclesi- 
astes  ix.  4. 


THE  SCHOLAR  IN  A  REPUBLIC  — PHILLIPS 

Bibliography.  Two  biographies  of  Phillips  have  appeared,  neither  of 
them  final  books  :  Austin's  Life  and  Times  of  Wendell  Phillips,  and 
Martyn's  Wendell  Phillips,  the  Agitator  (American  Reformer  Series). 
His  Lectures  and  Addresses  have  been  published  in  two  volumes.  An 
excellent  article  on  Phillips  will  be  found  in  the  Nation,  XXXVIII,  116, 
and  other  articles  will  be  found  cited  in  Poole's  Index. 

Chronology  of  Principal  Speeches  and  Orations.  1837  —  Speech  on  the 
Murder  of  Lovejoy.  1838-1839  —  The  Lost  Arts.  1840 — Cotton,  the 
Corner  Stone  of  Slavery.  1851  —  Woman's  Rights;  Eulogy  of  Kossuth. 
1852  —  Public  Opinion.  1853  —  Philosophy  of  the  Abolition  Movement. 
1855  —  Tne  Boston  Mob;  Capital  Punishment.  1859  —  Lecture  on 
Idols ;  Harper's  Ferry ;  the  Puritan  Principle  and  John  Brown ;  The 


PHILLIPS  351 

Education  of  the  People.  1860  — Lincoln's  Election;  Mobs  and  Edu 
cation;  The  Pulpit.  1861  —  Disunion;  Progress;  Under  the  Flag;  The 
War  for  the  Union ;  Toussaint  L'Ouverture  ;  Suffrage  for  Woman.  1863 

The  State  of  the  Country.    1865  —  The   Maine  Liquor  Law;   The 

Assassination  of  Lincoln.    1869  — Christianity  a  Battle,  not  a  Dream. 

jgyi The  Foundation  of  the  Labor  Movement.    1872  —  The  Labor 

Question.  1875  — Eulogy  of  Daniel  O'Connell.  1879  —  Eulogy  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison.  1881  —  The  Scholar  in  a  Republic. 

1591  4>  B  K  (Phi  Beta  Kappa)  :  a  literary  society  established  in  sev 
eral  American  colleges,  to  which  students  of  high  scholarship  are  ad 
mitted.  It  was  founded  as  a  literary  and  debating  society  at  William 
and  Mary  College,  Virginia,  in  1776.  Its  original  purpose  was  the 
encouragement  of  patriotism  and  scholarship.  The  Harvard  Chapter 
has  enjoyed  a  particularly  successful  career,  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Day  being 
the  greatest  public  literary  day  of  the  college  year. 

160  8  Roger  Williams  (1600-1684)  :  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island, 
and  apostle  of  religious  toleration  in  New  England.  —  Sir  Harry  Vane 
(1612-1662):  an  English  Puritan,  statesman,  and  patriot.    Governor  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  in  1636,  failing  of  reelection  on  account  of 
siding  with  Anne  Hutchinson.  —  21  Fenelon  (1651-1715):  a  celebrated 
French  prelate,  author,  and  orator.— 22  Somers  (1652-1716) :  an  Eng 
lish  statesman  and  jurist. —John  Marshall  (i755-l835)  :  Chief  Justice 
of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  1801-1835.  —  Carnot  (1801-1888)  .- 
a  French  politician  and  publicist. 

161  8  Charles  Chauncey  (1592-1672) :  the  second  president  of  Har 
vard  College.    As  a  preacher  in  England,  he  came  into  frequent  con 
flict  with  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  on  account  of  his  liberal  views.  — 
Brattle  Street  Church  protest :  a  manifesto  issued  in  1699  by  the  founders 
of  this  church  in  Boston,  declaring  in  favor  of  a  more  liberal  creed  than 
the  Congregational  organization  had  previously  adopted. 

16229  One  such  journal  nightmares  New  England  annals:  nightmare 
as  a  verb  is  unusual.  The  journal  referred  to  is  probably  that  of  John 
Winthrop,  governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  It  was  published 
by  James  Savage  as  a  History  of  New  England,  1630-1649. 

165  8  Wycliffe  (1324-1384) :  a  celebrated  English  religious  reformer, 
called  "  the  morning  star  of  the  Reformation."  . 

16620  Lord  Brougham  (1778-1868):  an  English  lawyer,  statesman, 
and  reformer.  —  21  Romilly  (1757-1818):  an  English  lawyer  and  phil 
anthropist,  famous  from  his  labors  for  the  reform  of  the  criminal  law. 

16718  Selden  (1584-1654):  an  eminent  English  jurist  and  author. 
—  33  Melanchthon  (1497-1560):  a  German  reformer,  famous  as  the 
collaborator  of  Luther. 


352  NOTES 

1682  Erasmus  (1465-1536):  a  famous  Dutch  theologian  and  clas 
sical  scholar.  He  aimed  to  reform  without  dismembering  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  at  first  favored,  but  subsequently  opposed,  the 
Reformation.  —  5  college-graduate  .  .  .  against  Lincoln:  see  198  8-13. 
Compare  Curtis's  oration  on  "  The  Leadership  of  Educated  Men."  In 
this  oration  Curtis  said :  "  A  year  ago  I  sat  with  my  brethren  of  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  at  Cambridge,  and  seemed  to  catch  echoes  of  Edmund 
Burke's  resounding  impeachment  of  Warren  Hastings  in  the  sparkling 
denunciation  of  the  timidity  of  American  scholarship.  .  .  .  But  the 
scholarly  audience  of  the  scholarly  orator,  with  an  exquisite  sense  of 
relief,  felt  every  count  of  his  stinging  indictment  recoil  upon  himself." 
(Orations  and  Addresses,  I,  320.)  —21  Professor  Peirce  :  both  he  and  his 
father  have  held  the  chair  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy  at  Harvard. — 
28  Scire  ubi  aliquid,  etc. :  a  large  part  of  education  is  to  know  where  you 
may  find  anything.  Note  the  thought-echo  from  the  preceding  paragraph. 

169  18  Niebuhr  (1776-1831) :  a  celebrated  German  historian,  philol 
ogist,  and  critic.  His  principal  work  was  his  Roman  History,  in  three 
volumes. 

173  18  triple  crown  (or  tiara) :  worn  by  the  pope  as  a  symbol  of  his 
threefold  sovereignty.  —  25  Credit  Mobilier :  a  corporation  chartered  in 
Pennsylvania  in  1863,  named  after  a  banking  corporation  in  France.  It 
developed  into  a  company  for  building  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad.  In 
1872  it  wras  found  that  certain  congressmen  secretly  possessed  stock  in 
the  company. — 28  The  railway  king:  William  K.  Vanderbilt. 

1762  Sir  Robert  Peel  (1788-1850):  a  noted  English  statesman,  for 
some  time  Prime  Minister.  He  first  opposed,  and  later  favored,  Catho 
lic  emancipation  and  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  — 12  Disraeli :  Earl  of 
Beaconsfield  (1804-1881) :  an  English  statesman  and  novelist ;  for  some 
time  Prime  Minister.  — 18  Wilberforce  (1759-1833)  :  an  English  philan 
thropist,  statesman,  and  orator;  famous  as  an  opponent  of  the  slave 
trade.  —  Clarkson  (1760-1846):  an  English  abolitionist.  —  19  Rowland 
Hill  (1744-1833)  :  an  English  preacher  and  dissenter. 

1787  Rantoul  (1805-1852):  an  American  politician,  lawyer,  and  re 
former  ;  an  opponent  of  slavery.  In  his  lecture  on  "  Idols,"  Phillips  pays 
him  an  eloquent  tribute  (First  Series,  254). — 8  Beccaria  (Bek-ka-re-a) 
(1738-1794) :  an  Italian  economist,  jurist,  and  philanthropist.  One  of  the 
earliest  opponents  of  the  death  penalty.  —  Livingston :  the  reference  is 
probably  to  Edward  Livingston  (1764-1836),  an  American  jurist  and 
statesman,  who  prepared  a  code  of  criminal  law  and  procedure.  — 
Mackintosh  (1765-1832)  :  a  Scottish  philosopher  and  lawyer.  — 10  single 
exception :  Horace  Mann  is  probably  meant 


CURTIS  353 

180  2iJ  Crillon  (1541-1615)  :  a  celebrated  French  general,  also  called 
"  L'Homme  sans  peur"  —  the  fearless. 

182  15  righteous  and  honorable  resistance:  of  Phillips's  plea  for  nihil 
ism  Colonel  Higginson  writes :  "  Many  a  respectable  lawyer  or  divine  felt 
his  blood  run  cold  the  next  day  when  he  found  that  the  fascinating 
orator  whom  he  applauded  to  the  echo  had  really  made  the  assassina 
tion  of  an  emperor  seem  as  trivial  as  the  doom  of  a  mosquito."    Recent 
developments  in  Russia,  however,  lend  new  interest  to  Phillips's  point 
of  view. 

183  14  Lieber  (1800-1872) :  a  German-American  publicist. 

184  10  Macchiavelli  (1469-1527)  :  a  celebrated  Italian  statesman  and 
author.  — 13  Faneuil  Hall  (fun'el  or  fan'il) :  a  market-house  in  Boston, 
containing  a  hall  for  public  assemblies.    It  was  built  in  1743  by  Peter 
Faneuil,  an  American  merchant.    It  was  the  meeting  place  of  American 
patriots   in   the   Revolutionary  period,   and  is  therefore  called  "The 
Cradle  of  Liberty."  —  33  Pecksniff:  a  notorious  hypocrite  in  Dickens's 
Martin  Chuzzlewit. 

185  24  Beckford  (1759-1844)  :  an  English  man  of  letters,  connoisseur, 
and  collector ;  best  known  as  the  author  of  Vathek,  an  Eastern  romance. 

186  18  Richter,   "Jean   Paul"  (1763-1825):    a   celebrated    German 
humorist. 


THE  PUBLIC  DUTY  OF  EDUCATED  MEN  — CURTIS 

Bibliography.  Curtis's  orations,  lectures,  and  speeches  have  been 
published  in  three  volumes, —  Orations  and  Addresses.  Edward  Gary, 
in  the  American  Men  of  Letters  Series,  treats  of  his  career  in  a  some 
what  rambling  fashion.  An  address  by  Parke  Godwin,  contained  in  his 
Commemorative  Addresses,  is  the  tribute  of  a  life-long  friend.  An  appre 
ciative  article  entitled  "  George  William  Curtis  :  Friend  of  the  Repub 
lic,"  by  Carl  Schurz,  appeared  in  McClure's  Magazine  for  October,  1904, 
and  various  articles  on  Curtis  will  be  found  in  magazines  soon  after  the 
date  of  his  death ;  see  Poole's  Index. 

Chronology  of  More  Notable  Orations  and  Lectures.  1856  —  The  Duty 
of  the  American  Scholar  to  Politics  and  the  Times.  1859  —  The  Present 
Aspects  of  the  Slavery  Question.  1862  —  The  American  Doctrine  of 
Liberty.  1865-1866  — The  Good  Fight  (a  lecture).  1869  — Civil  Service 
Reform.  1870  —  Fair  Play  for  Women.  1874  —  Eulogy  of  Charles 
Sumner.  1875  —  Oration  at  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  Concord 
Fight.  1877  —  The  Public  Duty  of  Educated  Men.  1880  —  Eulogy  of 
Robert  Burns.  1882  —  The  Leadership  of  Educated  Men.  1884  — 
Eulogy  of  Wendell  Phillips.  1885  — The  Puritan  Spirit.  1888  — The 
Reason  and  the  Result  of  Civil  Service  Reform.  1890  —  The  Higher 
Education  of  Women.  1892  —  Eulogy  of  James  Russell  Lowell. 


354  NOTES 

This  oration  is  so  clear  and  simple  in  its  plan  and  development  that 
the  student  may  easily  and  profitably  write  an  outline  of  it,  employing 
the  usual  threefold  division  of  Introduction,  Discussion,  Conclusion. 
On  analysis,  it  will  be  found  that  the  thought  as  a  whole  revolves 
around  two  main  propositions:  (i)  An  active  interest  and  practical  par 
ticipation  in  politics  is  the  duty  of  educated  men  ;  (2)  in  the  performance 
of  this  duty,  party  loyalty  should  be  made  subservient  to  conscience 
and  patriotism.  Having  narrowed  his  general  subject  to  a  more  definite 
one,  Curtis  develops  his  theme  by  a  varied  repetition  and  reinforcement 
of  the  two  foregoing  propositions.  He  does  not  deal  in  "  glittering  gen 
eralities,"  but  in  clear,  plain  specifications.  He  evidently  did  not  con 
sider  that  a  scholarly  address  is  measured  by  the  number  of  ideas 
suggested,  but  rather  by  one  or  two  central  ideas  lodged  in  the  minds  of 
the  hearers.'  The  logical  development  of  the  theme,  the  natural  and 
easy  transitions,  the  paragraph  and  sentence  structure,  the  pure  and  force 
ful  diction,  and  the  distinctively  oratorical  qualities  of  recapitulation, 
direct  address,  figures  of  speech,  and  climaxes,  —  will  of  course  be  seen 
and  appreciated  more  fully  than  could  be  pointed  out  in  these  notes. 

1922  the  music  of  these  younger  voices:  what  characteristic  of  a 
good  Introduction  ?  Point  out  other  instances  in  the  first  two  para 
graphs. 

194  11  venerated  teacher:  Dr.  Tayler  Lewis,  for  thirty-eight  years 
Professor  of  Greek  at  Union  College.    He  died  a  short  time  prior  to  the 
delivery  of  this  oration.    The  "  clear  voice  of  patriotic  warning  "  refers 
to  his  work,  States  Rights  a  Photograph  of  the  Ruins  of  Ancient  Greece, 
published  in  1864. 

195  3  By  the  words  "  public  duty,"  etc. :  note  the  method  of  reaching 
a  definition,  —  negation  and  antithesis,  linked  to  the  theme  of  the  dis 
course  as  a  whole. 

196  4  Jeremy  Diddler :  a  character  in  Kenney's  farce,  Raising  the 
Wind.    He  is  a  clever  vagabond  and  artful  swindler.  —  Dick  Turpin  :  a 
notorious  English  highwayman,  executed  in  1739.  —  9  Jonathan  Wild  : 
an  English  robber  and  receiver  of  stolen  goods,  hanged  in  1725.    The 
allusion  is  to  William  M.  Tweed  who,  as  head  of  the  "Tweed  Ring," 
robbed  New  York  City  of  millions  of  dollars.    He  was  arrested  in  1871, 
tried,  and  convicted.    He  died  in  Ludlow  Street  jail  in  1878. 

197  27  Agamemnon  :  in  Greek  legendary  history,  the  king  of  Mycenae, 
the  most  powerful  ruler  in  Greece.    Homer  calls  him  "  the  king  of  men." 

198  26  Faneuil  Hall:  see  184  13,  note. 

201  3,  7  a  rat  and  a  renegade  ...  a  popinjay  and  a  visionary  fool :  what 
power  over  words  is  shown  in  these   expressions? — 33  Golden  Age: 
this  same  idea  is  amplified  in  the  Concord  oration. 

202  7  Jacobins  :  a  society  of  French  revolutionists  organized  in  1789, 
and  so-called  from  the  Jacobin  convent  in  Paris,  in  which  they  met. 


GRADY  355 

The  violent  members,  led  by  Robespierre  and  Marat,  eventually  gained 
control,  and  the  club  supported  them  in  measures  that  led  to  the  Reign 
of  Terror.  —  24  Castor  and  Pollux:  in  Greek  and  Roman  mythology, 
twin  brothers  who  were  placed  in  the  heavens  as  a  constellation  called 
the  Gemini,  or  Twins. 

203  30  The  ordeal  of  last  winter:  the  contested  presidential  election 
of  1876,  when  Hayes  was  finally  declared  elected  by  a  Commission 
created  by  an  act  of  Congress.  The  gravity  of  the  situation  is  not 
exaggerated  by  Curtis.  On  December  22,  1876,  he  made  a  speech  on 
"  The  Puritan  Principle :  Liberty  under  the  Law,"  at  the  annual  dinner 
of  the  New  England  Society,  New  York,  advocating  a  non-partisan  settle 
ment  of  the  dispute.  In  this  speech,  says  Edward  Everett  Hale,  who 
was  present,  "  Curtis  spoke  the  word  which  was  most  needed  to  save 
the  country  from  terrible  calamity." 

205  13  Captain  Kidd :  a  notorious  pirate  who  was  hanged  in  London 
in  1701.  —  21  nasty:  what  is  gained  by  the  repetition  of  this  word? 

207  22  every  sign  encourages  and  inspires  :  why  is  a  forward-looking 
Conclusion  appropriate  ? 

208  10  Such  was  the  folly,  etc. :    note  how  the  antithesis  is  main 
tained. 

209  13  Bolingbroke  (1678-1751) :  an  English  statesman  and  political 
writer.    He    wrote,  among    other   things,   Idea   of  a    Patriot  King.  — 
14  patriot  president:    note  how  skillfully  a  general  summary  and  an 
appeal  are  combined;  the  ''patriot  president"  is  confronted  with  the 
same  problems,  and  to  him  is  ascribed  the  same  virtues,  that  Curtis 
has  throughout  the  oration  expounded  and  urged. 


THE  RACE  PROBLEM  IN  THE  SOUTH  — GRADY 

Bibliography.  Two  collections  of  Grady's  works  have  been  published. 
The  better,  though  incomplete,  edition  is  edited  by  Joel  Chandler 
Harris:  Henry  W.  Grady,  His  Life,  Writings,  and  Speeches  (1890). 
Another  edition  is  the  Life  and  Labors  of  Henry  W.  Grady.  Four 
of  his  orations  have  been  edited  by  Edna  H.  L.  Turpin,  in  Maynard's 
English  Classics  Series.  Articles  on  Grady  by  his  associate  editor  on 
the  Constitution,  Mr.  Clark  Howell,  will  be  found  in  the  Chautauquan, 
XXI,  703,  and  in  the  Arena,  II,  9.  For  other  magazine  articles,  consult 
Poole's  Index. 

Chronology  of  Published  Speeches  and  Orations.  1886  —  The  New 
South.  1887  — The  South  and  Her  Problems;  The  "Solid  South"; 
Prohibition  in  Atlanta.  1889  —  Against  Centralization  ;  The  Farmer  and 
the  Cities ;  The  Race  Problem  in  the  South ;  Speech  before  the  Bay 
State  Club,  Boston. 


356  NOTES 

2158  Happy  am  I  that  this  mission,  etc. :  note  the  skillful  transition. 
—  28  I  spoke  some  words,  etc. :  the  speech  on  the  "  New  South,"  referred 
to  in  the  Introduction  to  the  speech  in  this  volume. 

216  16  the  fairest  and  richest  domain  of  this  earth,  etc.:  Mr.  Marion 
J.  Verdrey  says,  "  Grady  could  invest  the  most  trifling  thing  with  pro 
portions  of  importance  not  at  all  its  own.    He  could  transform  a  homely 
thought  into  an  expression  of  beauty  beneath  his  wondrous  touch." 
Find  examples  here  and  elsewhere  in  this  speech. 

217  14  El  Dorado:  a  fabulous  region  of  South  America,  abounding  in 
gold  and  gems.    By  extension,  any  country  rich  in  natural  resources. 

2211  The  President:  Benjamin  Harrison.  —  22  enormous  crop:  the 
cotton  crop  of  1905  was  over  12,000,000  bales. 

224  15  Regulators :  members  of  unauthorized  associations  formed 
for  carrying  out  a  rough  substitute  for  justice  in  the  case  of  heinous  or 
notorious  crimes. 

227  23  "  forty  acres  and  a  mule  " :  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  negro 
vote  was  solicited  by  the  "  carpet-baggers,"  who  quoted  Lincoln  as  say 
ing  that  if  the  Republican  party  were  kept  in  power,  each  negro  should 
have  "forty  acres  and  a  mule." 

228  9  as  Elisha  rose,  etc. :  2  Kings  ii.  9-12.  —  24  force  bills :  the  semi- 
military  government  during  the   Reconstruction  period.    A  proposed 
"  Federal  election  law  "  was  pending  before  Congress  at  the  time  this 
speech  was  delivered.    This  "  Force  Bill "  provided  that  Federal  troops 
might  be  used  to  prevent  the  intimidation  of  negroes  at  the  polls.    The 
bill  was  so  palpably  a  partisan  measure  that  the  opposition  to  it  was 
largely  responsible  for  the  election  of  Mr.  Cleveland  as  President  for  a 
second  term. 

23115  Cyrenian  :  Luke  xxiii.  26. — 18  "And  suddenly  Ethiopia,"  etc. : 
Psalms  Ixviii.  31. 

232  1  Hamilcar :  the  famous  Carthaginian  general  (third  century  B.C.) 
who  made  his  young  son  Hannibal  swear  eternal  hostility  to  Rome. 

Queries.  Is  this  speech  logical  as  a  whole  ?  Considered  as  an  argu 
ment,  what  is  the  main  issue  ?  Is  any  solution  of  the  race  problem 
offered  ?  Is  the  speech,  as  a  whole,  primarily  an  argument  or  a  plea  ? 

THE  PURITAN  AND  THE  CAVALIER  — WATTERSON 

Mr.  Watterson's  publications  are  mentioned  in  the  Introduction. 
One  or  two  magazine  articles  on  phases  of  his  life  and  work  will  be 
found  cited  in  Poole's  Index. 

Chronology  of  Principal  Addresses.  1870  —  Eulogy  of  George  Denni- 
son  Prentice.  1873  — The  American  Newspaper.  1874  — A  Plea  for 


DANIEL  357 

Provincialism.  1877  —  The  South  in  Light  and  Shade  (a  lecture) ;  The 
Nation's  Dead;  The  Electoral  Commission  Bill.  1883  — The  New 
South.  1888  — Money  and  Morals  (a  lecture).  1891— Let  Us  have 
Peace.  1892  —  Our  Expanding  Republic  (at  the  World's  Fair,  Chicago). 
1894  — Compromises  of  Life  (a  lecture).  1895  — Abraham  Lincoln  (a 
lecture) ;  a  Welcome  to  the  Grand  Army.  1896  —  England  and  America. 

T897 The  Puritan  and  the  Cavalier.    1898  —  The  Reunited  Sections  ; 

Eulogy  of  Francis  Scott  Key.    1899  —  God's  Promise  Redeemed.    1901 

The  Man  in  Gray;  Reciprocity  and  Expansion.     1902  —Eulogy  of 

John  Paul  Jones  ;  Heroes  in  Homespun.  1903  —  The  Hampton  Roads 
Conference;  The  Ideal  in  Public  Life;  Blood  Thicker  than  Water. 
1906  —  Speech  of  Welcome,  Old  Home  Week,  at  Louisville,  Kentucky. 

237  1  Eleven  years  ago  ...  a  young  Georgian,  etc. :  Grady  in  his  "  New 
South"  speech,  1886.  —  31  ate  no  fire  in  the  green  leaf,  etc.:  compare 
Luke  xxiii.  31. 

238  4  "  A  plague  o'  both  your  houses  "  :  Romeo  and  Juliet,  III,  i. 

239  13  The  ambassador  :  James  B.  Eustis,  of  Louisiana.  —  20  Custer :  a 
Union  officer  in  the  Civil  War ;  Rupert :  fought  in  the  English  Civil  War 
against  Cromwell.  —20  Ethan  Allen . .  .  John  Stark . . .  Wayne  . . .  Putnam. . . 
Buffalo  Bill :  all  from  the  North,  but  possessing  Cavalier  characteristics. 

2405  Scarlet  Woman:  a  common  designation  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,  symbolizing  its  vices  and  corruption.  —  mailed  hand  :  military  rule. 
—  21  Cavalier  sprays  and  Puritan  branches  :  on  his  father's  side,  Lincoln 
was  descended  from  a  Quaker  family,  of  English  origin,  residing  in  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  Berks  County,  Pennsylvania.  His 
mother,  Nancy  Hanks,  belonged  to  a  Virginia  family.  —  34  this  noble 
city  .  .  .  redeemed  from  bondage :  the  anti-Tammany  rule  of  Mayor  Low. 

241  4  Smithfield:  formerly  a  recreation  ground  in  London,  north  of 
St.  Paul's.  It  was  noted  in  the  time  of  Queen  Mary  as  the  place  for 
burning  heretics  at  the  stake.  —  9  Hester  Prynne :  the  principal  charac 
ter  of  Hawthorne's  Scarlet  Letter.  — 13  Endicott :  governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  Colony  1649-1665;  a  zealous  Puritan  and  persecutor  of  the 
Quakers,  four  of  whom  were  executed  under  his  administration. — 
14  Winthrop  :  predecessor  of  Endicott  as  governor  of  Massachusetts. 
He  opposed  Vane,  Anne  Hutchinson,  and  the  Antinomians.  (See  160  8 
and  16229,  notes.)— 27  Cotton  Mather  (1663-1728):  took  an  active 
part  in  the  persecutions  for  witchcraft. 

EULOGY  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE  — DANIEL 

Mr.  Daniel's  speeches  and  orations  have  not  as  yet  been  put  into 
permanent  form.  The  occasion  of  the  oration  in  this  volume,  with  a 
historical  sketch  of  the  Lee  Memorial  Association,  is  described  in  a 
pamphlet  published  by  Washington  and  Lee  University,  1883. 


358  NOTES 

244  7  Arlington  :  during  the  Civil  War  the  property  was  seized  by 
the  government,  for  which  compensation  has  since  been  made  to  Lee's 

heirs.    The  estate  is  now  the  site  of  a  national  cemetery one  of  the 

largest  and  most  beautiful  in  the  United  States.  The  old  Lee  mansion, 
with  its  stately  portico,  is  a  fine  specimen  of  colonial  architecture.  — 
28  fierce  love  of  liberty:  see  287,  where  Burke  speaks  of  the  "fierce 
spirit  of  liberty  "  in  the  colonies.  In  a  minor  argument  (omitted  from 
the  text  of  this  volume)  Burke  contends  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  the 
more  "  high  and  haughty "  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  because  of 
slavery.  With  the  Southern  colonists,  he  says,  "freedom  is  not  only 
an  enjoyment,  but  a  kind  of  rank  and  privilege." 

245  5  Home:  anticipatory  of  251  11-24. 

248  25  Francis  Preston  Blair :  born  in  Virginia,  but  an  active  Union 
man.  The  Hampton  Roads  Peace  Conference  of  February  3,  1865,  was 
a  result  of  his  labors. 

25329  Islands  of  the  Blest:  also  called  the  Fortunate  or  Happy 
Islands.  They  were  originally  imaginary  isles  in  the  western  ocean 
where  the  souls  of  the  good  are  made  happy.  With  the  discovery  of 
the  Canary  and  Madeira  islands  the  name  became  attached  to  them. 

255  25  "On  this  green  bank,"  etc. :  inexactly  quoted  from  Emerson's 
hymn  at  the  dedication  of  the  Concord  Monument. — 31  Valentine:  a 
distinguished  Virginian  sculptor.  —  33  "Joyous  Card":  "La  Joyeuse 
Garde,"  in  medieval  romance,  was  the  castle  of  Lancelot  of  the  Lake, 
given  him  by  Arthur  for  his  defense  of  the  queen's  honor. 

EULOGY  OF  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT  — PORTER 

Bibliography.  Some  of  the  best  of  General  Porter's  numerous  after- 
dinner  speeches  are  contained  in  Reed's  Modern  Eloquence,  III,  897-943 
inclusive,  and  articles  on  and  by  him  will  be  found  in  the  files  of  the 
magazines  and  reviews.  General  Porter  is  the  author  of  Campaigning 
with  Grant  and  West  Point  Life. 

Besides  the  oration  in  this  volume,  his  other  notable  orations  and 
speeches  have  been  :  as  orator  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Washington 
Arch,  New  York,  May  4,  1895;  at  the  dedication  of  Grant's  Tomb, 
New  York,  April  27,  1897  ;  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Rochambeau 
Statue,  Washington,  May  24,  1902;  and  at  the  centennial  of  the 
foundation  of  the  West  Point  Military  Academy,  June  n,  1902. 

The  speech  may  well  be  viewed  as  a  model  of  the  brief er form  of  eulogy. 
Senator  Daniel's  oration  is  an  example  of  the  more  formal  and  elabor 
ate  eulogy,  his  address  as  a  whole  (which  is  here  considerably  abridged 
from  the  original  text)  being  an  exhaustive  biographical  review  of  Lee's 
life,  with  a  sort  of  running  commentary  thereon.  General  Porter,  it  will 
be  seen,  eliminates  the  biographical  method  altogether,  and  confines 


PORTER  359 

himself  to  the  lessons  of  Grant's  life.  The  main  facts  of  his  life  are 
incidentally  alluded  to,  by  way  of  illustration,  but  the  theme  is,  What 
were  the  qualities  which  made  Grant  a  great  man  ?  By  way  of  intro 
duction,  the  speaker  presents  for  consideration  the  fact  that  Grant's 
life  is  unique  in  its  striking  contrasts  (paragraph  2) ;  then  considers  his 
soldierly  qualities  (paragraphs  3  and  4) ;  then  his  loyalty  (paragraph  5) ; 
he  next  shows  that  it  required  great  emergencies  to  call  forth  his  powers 
(paragraph  6) ;  then  follows  a  summarizing  eulogy,  with  the  equestrian 
statue  as  a  text  (paragraph  7) ;  and  the  Conclusion  shows  the  devotion 
of  the  old  soldiers  by  an  incident  of  their  General's  last  sickness.  Thus 
are  the  really  essential  facts  of  Grant's  life  woven  into  the  fabric  of  the 
speech  with  consummate  skill,  yet  all  the  while  the  warp  of  the  thought- 
fabric  is  the  aforementioned  theme. 

259  9  the  heavy  columns  in  the  center:  an  allusion  to  the  large  col 
umns  in  the  room  in  which  he  was  speaking.  — 18  the  tragedy  on  Mount 
McGregor:  on  June  16,  1885,  Grant  was  taken  to  the  Joseph  W.  Drexel 
cottage  at  Mount  McGregor,  near  Saratoga,  New  York,  as  to  a  sana 
torium,  and  died  there  on  July  23.  —  31  striding  through  the  palaces  of 
the  Old  World,  etc.  :  after  retiring  from  the  presidency,  General  Grant 
made  a  tour  around  the  world,  and  was  received  at  foreign  courts  with 
honors  reserved  for  sovereigns.  Note  how  well  the  antithetical  sen 
tences  correspond  to  the  central  thought. 

261  9  "  Let  us  have  peace  "  :  Grant  made  use  of  this  famous  phrase 
in  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  his  first  nomination  for  the  presidency 
(May  20,  1868).  — 12  Gobelin  tapestries:  the  Gobelins  were  a  family  of 
dyers,  who  introduced  the  manufacture  of  tapestries  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  at  Paris.  Their  manufactory  was  changed  to  a  royal  establish 
ment  under  Louis  XIV,  about  1667. — 22  this  trait  ...  led  him  to 
make  mistakes :  the  allusion  is  to  Grant's  career  as  President,  which,  in 
the  common  judgment,  cannot  be  said  to  have  been  brilliant.  He  had 
a  soldier's  directness  and  honesty,  while  to  political  arts  and  chicanery 
he  was  a  stranger.  He  strove  to  put  the  civil  service  on  a  meritorious 
basis,  but  the  politicians  would  not  sustain  him,  and  he  abandoned  the 
effort.  During  his  second  term  there  were  many  frauds  perpetrated  on 
the  government,  and  his  Secretary  of  War  resigned  to  escape  impeach 
ment  for  peculation.  But  no  one  believed  the  President  in  any  way 
implicated  in  these  dishonest  schemes.  It  was  felt  that  his  own  trust 
fulness  and  loyalty  to  men  in  whom  he  confided  made  him  an  easier 
victim  of  artful  and  unscrupulous  schemers. 

2623  variableness,  nor  shadow  of  turning:  see  James  i.  17.  —  4  the 
toga  of  Nessus :  Nessus,  in  Greek  legend,  was  a  centaur  slain  by  Her 
cules.  He  attempted  to  run  away  with  the  latter's  wife,  Dejanira,  but 
was  shot  by  Hercules  with  a  poisoned  arrow.  Nessus,  in  revenge,  gave 


360  NOTES 

Dejanira  his  tunic,  declaring  that  'the  one  to  whom  she  gave  it  would 
love  her  exclusively.  Dejanira  gave  it  to  her  husband,  who  was  de 
voured  by  poison  as  soon  as  he  put  it  on ;  the  garment  clung  to  his 

flesh,  which  was  torn  off  with  it.    Query.  Is  the  simile  an  apt  one  ? 

22  State  paper :  a  message  by  President  Grant  accompanying  his  veto 
of  the  so-called  "  Inflation  Bill."  This  bill,  passed  by  Congress  in  1874, 
provided  for  an  increase  of  the  currency  of  the  country. — 20  Alabama 
claims:  see  308  24,  note.  —  27  the  miscreants  who  robbed  him  in  Wall 
Street :  after  returning  from  his  trip  around  the  world,  Grant,  finding 
his  income  insufficient  for  his  family's  support,  became  a  partner  in  a 
banking  house  bearing  the  name  of  Grant  and  Ward.  He  took  no  part 
in  the  management.  In  May,  1884,  the  firm,  without  warning,  suspended. 
It  was  found  that  two  of  the  partners  had  been  practicing  a  series  of 
unblushing  frauds,  and  had  robbed  Grant  and  his  family  of  all  they 
possessed. 

263  (>  that  magnificent  tribute,  etc. :  an  equestrian  bronze  statue, 
surmounted  upon  a  granite  base,  in  Lincoln  Park,  Chicago.  —  21  an 
indescribably  touching  incident:  why  is  the  incident  described  a  fitting 
Conclusion  ?  Compare  Elaine's  oft-quoted  Conclusion,  in  his  eulogy 
of  Garfield. 

THE  IMMORTALITY  OF  GOOD  DEEDS  — REED 

No  life  of  Reed,  or  collection  of  his  speeches,  has  as  yet  been  pub 
lished.  His  speeches  were  for  the  most  part  on  political  questions, 
delivered  in  Congress  and  during  political  campaigns.  During  his  later 
life  Mr.  Reed  wrote  frequently  for  the  leading  reviews,  usually  on  polit 
ical  subjects,  and  published  Reed's  Rules.  Magazine  articles  on  and 
by  him  may  be  found  by  consulting  Poole's  Index. 

In  the  study  of  this  oration,  the  student  should  note  first  the  wisdom 
shown  in  the  choice  of  a  subject.  Mr.  Reed  took  a  single,  definite 
theme  —  which  might  otherwise  be  called  a  "  Noble  Use  of  Wealth  "  — 
as  a  moral  to  be  drawn  from  Girard's  life,  and  did  not  dissipate  the  force 
of  a  single  impression  by  including  such  topics  as  the  Life  of  Girard, 
the  History  of  Girard  College,  etc. ;  these  are  alluded  to,  but  only  so 
far  as  they  aid  in  enforcing  the  main  line  of  thought. 

The  following  outline  facts  regarding  Girard's  life  and  Girard  Col 
lege  will  assist  in  understanding  many  of  the  allusions  in  the  address 
as  a  whole. 

Stephen  Girard  was  born  May  24,  1750,  at  Bordeaux,  France. 
When  eight  years  old  he  met  with  an  accident  by  which  the  sight  of 
his  right  eye  was  destroyed.  At  the  age  of  thirteen,  following  the 
custom  of  the  Girard  family  generally,  he  commenced  life  as  a  sailor, 
and  was  so  assiduous  and  successful  that  he  became  master  and  cap 
tain  of  a  ves~sel  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-three.  His  first  mercantile 


REED 


36l 


venture  was  to  Santo  Domingo  in  1774,  whence  he  proceeded  to  the  then 
colony  of  New  York.  After  trading  with  marked  success  for  two  years 
between  New  York,  Port  au  Prince,  and  New  Orleans,  he  went  to 
Philadelphia  in  May,  1776,  and  gave  up  the  sea  for  a  mercantile  career, 
though  he  continued  in  the  shipping  business. 

In  1793,  while  he  was  engaged  most  successfully  in  the  prosecution 
of  an  extensive  trade,  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever  broke  out  in  Phila 
delphia,  sweeping  away  one  sixth  of  its  population.  A  reign  of  terror, 
suffering,  and  desolation  prevailed  throughout  the  city.  When,  during 
its  height,  a  hospital  was  established,  for  which  it  seemed  almost  im 
possible  to  secure  competent  management,  Girard  devoted  himself  per 
sonally,  fearless  of  all  risks,  to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  burial  of 
the  dead,  not  only  in  the  hospital,  of  which  he  became  manager,  but 
throughout  the  city,  supplying  the  poorer  sufferers  with  money  and 
provisions.  Two  hundred  children,  made  orphans  by  the  ravages  of 
.  the  fever,  were  in  a  great  measure  thrown  upon  his  care.  From  this 
period  his  success,  commercially  and  financially,  was  unexampled.  He 
gave  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  management  of  municipal  affairs  for 
several  years,  and  served  as  director  of  many  public  institutions.  On 
the  dissolution  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  he  instituted  what  is 
known  now  as  the  Girard  Bank.  During  the  War  of  1812  he  rendered 
valuable  services  to  the  government  by  placing  at  its  disposal  the  re 
sources  of  his  bank,  subscribing  to  a  large  loan  which  the  government 
had  vainly  sought  to  obtain. 

Mr.  Girard  was  married  in  1777  to  Mary,  or  "Polly,"  Lum,  the 
daughter  of  a  Philadelphia  shipbuilder.  She  was  distinguished  for  her 
personal  beauty  and  her  noble  virtues.  About  three  years  after  the 
marriage  she  became  insane,  and  was  placed  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hos 
pital.  There  she  gave  birth  to  a  child,  which  died  in  a  few  months. 
Mrs.  Girard  remained  an  inmate  of  the  hospital  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  died  there  in  1815. 

Mr.  Girard  was  a  man  with  a  strong  will  and  indomitable  energy, 
somewhat  eccentric,  but  a  man  "  whose  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond  " 
"  By  residence  he  belonged  to  Philadelphia,  by  faith  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  ;  but  in  a  truer,  wider  sense  he  belonged  to  no  city,  to 
no  sect,  but  to  the  people,  to  the  cause  of  the  greatest  good  for  all  men. 
.  .  .  Poor,  struggling,  full  of  ambition,  full  of  hope  in  his  youth;  active, 
determined,  enterprising,  and  charitable  in  the  prime  of  life ;  mourned 
and  regretted  in  his  death,  — such  was  the  life  of  the  most  eminent 
philanthropist  of  his  time."  He  died  December  26,  1831,  leaving  a, 
fortune  of  about  seven  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  he  being  the  first 
millionaire  that  this  country  had  produced. 

Girard  College  was  founded  by  him  for  the  education  and  support 
of  the  poor  white  orphans  of  his  adopted  city.  After  various  specific 
annuities  and  bequests  to  relatives,  charities,  and  the  city  of  Philadel 
phia,  he  bequeathed  the  residue  of  his  estate  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
for  the  founding  and  maintenance  of  the  college.  In  his  will  the  most 
minute  directions  are  given  in  regard  to  the  buildings  to  be  erected, 
and  the  admission  and  management  of  the  students.  He  specifically 
requires  that  the  orphans  be  instructed  in  the  purest  principles  of  mo 
rality  ;  that  there  be  formed  and  fostered  in  their  minds  an  attachment 


362  NOTES 

to  our  republican  institutions ;  and  that  "  no  ecclesiastic,  missionary, 
or  minister  of  any  sect  whatsoever,  shall  ever  hold  or  exercise  any 
station  or  duty  in  said  college ;  nor  shall  any  such  person  ever  be  ad 
mitted  for  any  purpose,  or  as  a  visitor,  within  the  premises  appropriated 
to  the  purposes  of  said  college."  This  last-named  provision  gave  rise 
to  the  famous  Girard  Will  contest,  instituted  by  the  heirs-at-law  in  1836, 
and  argued  in  1844  before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  by  Daniel 
Webster  as  leading  counsel  for  the  contestants.  Webster  knew  that  he 
had  a  weak  case  in  point  of  law,  so  he  went  boldly  outside  the  law  and 
made  "an  impassioned  appeal  to  emotion  and  prejudice."  His  plea 
was  for  the  Christian  religion,  but  the  Supreme  Court  decided  unani 
mously  in  favor  of  the  college,  Chief-Justice  Story  holding  that  an 
institution  may  be  Christian  without  being  sectarian,  and  that  there 
could  be  religious  instruction  even  though  the  minister,  missionary, 
and  ecclesiastic  be  excluded. 

266  4  the  two  great  universities  :  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  situated 
on  the  banks  of  the  Cam  and  the  Isis  (local  name  for  the  Thames), 
respectively. 

267  26  endowment  income :  the  endowment  of  Girard  College,  which 
included  considerable  real  estate  in  and  about  Philadelphia,  increased 
in  value  from  $5,260,000  in   1831,  to  $26,925,000  in   1898  (when  this 
address  was  delivered),  or  a  fivefold  increase.  —  29  mariner  and  mer 
chant  :  Mr.  Girard  so  describes  himself  in  the  first  sentence  of  his  will. 

268  1  facts  and  things,  etc. :  Mr.  Girard  says  in  his  will,  "  I  would 
have  them  taught  facts  and  things,  rather  than  words  and  signs." 

269  25  named  his  vessels  after  the  great  French  authors  :   four  fine 
trading  vessels,  the  pride  of  Philadelphia  in  their  day,  were  respectively 
named  by  Girard  the  Rousseau,  Voltaire,  Montesquieti,  and  Helvetius. 

270  13  the  man  who  was  so  unworthy  to  write  his  first  biography.- 
the  allusion  is  to  one  Stephen  Simpson,  who  wrote  the  first  biography 
(1832)  of  Mr.  Girard. — 24  Colonel  Charters:   Francis  Charters  (1675- 
1732)  —  aiso  Chartres  and  Charteris  —  was  a  notorious  English  gambler 
and  profligate.    By  a  combination  of  skill,  trickery,  and  effrontery  he 
acquired  large  sums  of  money  by  gambling ;  and  by  loaning  the  money 
thus  obtained  at  exorbitant  rates  of  interest  he  amassed  a  large  for 
tune.    In  Pope's  verses  Charters's  name  is  frequently  introduced  as  a 
synonym  of  depravity  and  deviltry.    When  he  knew  that  he  was  dying 
he  expressed  his  willingness  to  give  ^30,000  to  be  assured  that  there 
was  no  hell,  remarking  at  the  same  time  that  the  existence  of  heaven 
was  to  him  a  matter  of  indifference.    Following  his  death  the  April 
number  of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  (II,  718)  contained  the  pungent 
epitaph  by  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  the  concluding  lines  of  which  are :  "  Think 
not  his  life  useless  to  mankind.    Providence  connived  at  his  execrable 


BEVERIDGE  363. 

designs  to  give  to  after  ages  a  conspicuous  proof  and  example  of  how 
small  estimation  is  exorbitant  wealth  in  the  sight  of  God,  by  His  bestow 
ing  it  on  the  most  unworthy  of  all  mortals."  —  Pope's  Works,  III,  129. 

272  0  the  siege  of  Zutphen  .  .  .  death  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney:  Zutphen 
is  a  fortified  town  of  Holland.  Sidney  was  an  officer  in  the  English 
expedition  to  the  Netherlands  (1585-1586).  Certain  historians  (for 
reasons  best  known  to  themselves)  have  questioned  the  truth  of  the 
famous  incident  at  the  battle  of  Zutphen  (September  26,  1586),  when 
Sidney,  mortally  wounded,  passed  a  cup  of  water  to  a  dying  soldier. 
It  is  unquestioned,  however,  that  he  owed  his  death  to  an  impulse  of 
romantic  generosity.  The  lord  marshal  happening  to  enter  the  field  of 
Zutphen  without  greaves,  Sidney  cast  off  his  also,  to  put  his  life  in  the 
same  peril,  and  thus  exposed  himself  to  the  fatal  shot.  — 13  the  charge 
of  Balaklava  :  during  the  Crimean  war  a  series  of  engagements  between 
the  Russians  and  the  Allies  took  place  near  Balaklava,  October  25,  1854. 
Through  a  misconception  of  the  general-in-chief's  order  the  English 
Light  Brigade  was  ordered  to  charge  the  Russian  artillery.  With  a 
battery  in  front  and  on  each  side  the  Brigade  hewed  its  way  past  the 
guns  in  front  and  routed  the  enemy's  cavalry.  Of  670  horsemen  198 
returned.  This  charge  has  been  immortalized  by  Tennyson  in  his  "  The 
Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade."  — 23  the  tablet:  a  marble  sarcophagus 
and  statue  of  Girard  stand  in  the  vestibule  of  the  main  building  of 
Girard  College.  —  27  sent  forth  a  venture  :  note  the  appropriateness  of 
the  figure  used. 

Queries.  Does  the  Conclusion  (paragraph  25)  violate  the  law  of 
sequence  ?  Is  it  closely  related  to  the  four  preceding  paragraphs  ?  Is 
the  transition  too  abrupt  ? 

TRIBUTE  TO  MARCUS  A.  HANNA  — BEVERIDGE 

A  few  of  Mr.  Beveridge's  speeches  have  been  issued  in  pamphlet 
form,  and  these  are  political  discussions,  —  except  an  address  delivered 
at  the  dedication  of  Indiana's  monuments  on  the  battlefield  of  Shiloh, 
Tennessee,  April  6,  1903,  which  resembles  closely  the  address  in  this 
volume. 

274  9  on  and  up  ...  the  true, "the  beautiful,  and  the  good:  is  the  use 
of  these  trite  phrases  justifiable  ?  The  origin  of  the  latter  phrase  is 
probably  to  be  found  in  Victor  Cousin's  book,  Du  vrai,  du  beau,  et  du  bien. 

27620  rooftrees:  a  rooftree  is  the  beam  in  the  angle  of  a  roof; 
hence  the  roof  itself.  —  27  Antaeus :  a  mythological  giant  who  was  invisi 
ble  so  long  as  he  was  in  contact  with  the  earth. 

277  1  Villon  (1431-1484):  one  of  the  earliest  French  poets. 


364  NOTES 


MARSHALL  AND  THE   CONSTITUTION  — COCKRAN 

Bibliography.  No  books  on  or  by  Mr.  Cockran  have  as  yet  been 
published.  Most  of  the  speeches  by  him  that  have  appeared  in  print 
are  newspaper  reports.  A  few  speeches  have  been  issued  in  pamphlet 
form.  A  speech  on  the  Negro  Problem  is  published  in  the  report  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Negro  Conference,  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  1898. 
The  oration  in  this  volume  is  included  in  a  work  of  two  volumes, — 
John  Marshall:  His  Life,  Character,  and  Judicial  Services  (1903). 

Chronology  of  Principal  Orations  and  Speeches.  1895  —  The  Tariff  ; 
The  Currency.  1896 — Honest  Money  (in  answer  to  Mr.  Bryan) ;  The 
Irish  Question  (at  a  celebration  of  Robert  Emmet's  birthday).  1898 

The  Negro  Problem.  1900  —  Labor  and  Capital;  Expansion  and 

Wages;  Imperialism.  1901 — John  Marshall  and  the  Constitution. 

I904 The  American  Merchant  Marine  ;  The  Issue  of  1904  ;  Executive 

Usurpation. 

281  21  the  battered  gateways  of  Far  Cathay:  the  invasion  of  China 
by  the  allied  armies  during  the  Boxer  uprising  of  1900. 

283  10  Danton  (1759-1794)  was  thrown  into  prison  by  Robespierre,  his 
rival  as  leader  of  the  French  Revolution.    Five  days  afterwards  he  was 
condemned  by  a  revolutionary  tribunal,  and  executed  the  same  day. 

284  22  the    greatest    Englishman    of   modern    times:    Gladstone.— 
24  Marshall  found  a  plan,  etc. :  compare  this  sentence  with  Webster's 
saying  of  Hamilton  :  "  He  smote  the  rock  of  our  national  resources, 
and  abundant  streams  of  revenue  gushed  forth  ;  he  touched  the  corpse 
of  our  public  credit,  and  it  sprang  upon  its  feet." 

28629  United  States  against  Fisher:  2  Cranch  358. 

287  12  mandamus  to  Judge  Peters :  5  Cranch  115. — 21  case  of  Hunter's 
Lessee  :  3  Dallas  305.  — 33  Marbury  against  Madison :  I  Cranch  115. 

2886  Gibbons  against  Ogden :  9  Wheaton  i.  —  9  Brown  against 
the  State  of  Maryland:  12  Wheaton  419. — 24  Dartmouth  College  case: 
4  Wheaton  518. 

289  1  to  summarize,  etc. :  see  285  6-15. 


INTERNATIONAL  ARBITRATION  — SCHURZ 

Bibliography.  Mr.  Schurz  wrote  one  of  the  best  biographies  of  Henry 
Clay,  for  the  American  Statesmen  Series,  and  also  a  biography  of 
Lincoln,  for  the  Chautauqua  Series.  His  Autobiography  was  running 
in  McClure's  Magazine  at  the  time  of  his  death.  A  volume  of  his  most 
important  speeches  on  slavery  and  the  Civil  War  was  published  in 
1865.  After  that  date  his  principal  public  addresses  were  those  in  the 
Senate,  —  on  the  annexation  of  Santo  Domingo,  the  sales  of  arms,  the 
currency,  and  general  amnesty  in  the  South;  his  eulogy  on  Charles 


SCHURZ  365 

Sumner;  his  speeches  in  the  presidential  campaign  of  1884,  in  support 
of  Mr.  Cleveland,  and  in  the  campaign  of  1896,  in  opposition  to  Mr. 
Bryan's  monetary  theories ;  and  his  addresses  on  civil  service  reform 
and  international  arbitration. 

The  oration  in  this  volume  may  well  be  studied  primarily  as  an  argu 
ment, —  for  such  it  is,  —  and  to  that  end  the  student  should  make  a 
brief  of  it,  following  the  plan  outlined  in  detail  under  the  notes  on 
Burke.  Such  a  brief  will  show  at  a  glance  the  way  in  which  the  ideas 
and  arguments  are  marshaled  under  the  different  divisions,  —  the  logi 
cal  sequence  and  clearness  of  the  thought-expression,  the  unity  in  para 
graph  structure,  the  plain,  direct  style,  and  the  unity,  coherency,  and 
convincingness  of  the  oration  as  a  whole. 

296  1  I  ...  address  you,  etc. :  note  how  the  speaker  plunges  at  once 
into  his  argument.  Why  was  a  further  Introduction  (which  might  be 
considered  as  ending  with  the  first  sentence)  unnecessary?  — 11  Hugo 
Grotius's  time :  Grotius  (i  583-1645)  was  a  celebrated  Dutch  jurist,  theo 
logian,  statesman,  and  poet,  the  founder  of  the  science  of  international 
law.  His  chief  work,  published  in  1625,  is  De  jure  belli  et pads. 

297  6  preclude  war  :  the  general  line  of  argument  here  advanced  is 
expressed  by  David  Starr  Jordan,  in  his  customary  epigrammatic  style, 
as  follows :  "  The  day  of  the  nations  as  nations  is  passing.  National 
ambitions,  national  hopes,  national  aggrandizements:  all  these  may 
become  public  nuisances  .  .  .  The  men  of  the  world  as  men,  not  as 
nations,  are  drawing  closer  together.  The  needs  of  commerce  are 
stronger  than  the  will  of  nations,  and  the  final  guarantee  of  peace  and 
good  will  among  men  will  be  not  '  the  parliament  of  nations,'  but  the 
self-control  of  men." 

30023  Venezuela  message :  on  December  17,  1895,  President  Cleve 
land  submitted  to  Congress  a  special  message  concerning  a  long 
standing  dispute  between  Venezuela  and  Great  Britain  over  their 
respective  boundaries  in  South  America.  In  1887  the  dispute  had 
resulted  in  the  breaking  off  of  diplomatic  relations  between  the  two 
countries.  On  February  20,  1895,  at  tne  suggestion  of  the  President, 
Congress,  by  joint  resolution,  recommended  to  Great  Britain  and  Vene 
zuela  the  reference  of  their  dispute  to  friendly  arbitration,  but  Great 
Britain  refused.  Then  followed  the  message  referred  to,  in  which  the 
President  said : 

"  If  a  European  power,  by  an  extension  of  its  boundaries,  takes  pos 
session  of  the  territory  of  one  of  our  neighboring  republics  against  its 
will,  .  .  .  this  is  the  precise  action  which  President  Monroe  declared  to 
be  '  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.'  .  .  .  Having  labored  faith 
fully  for  many  years  to  induce  Great  Britain;  to  submit  this  dispute  to 


366  NOTES 

impartial  arbitration,  and  having  been  finally  apprised  of  her  refusal  to 
do  so,  nothing  remains  but  to  accept  the  situation,  .  .  .  and  to  deal  with 
it  accordingly  ....  It  is  now  incumbent  upon  the  United  States  to 
determine  .  .  .  what  is  the  true  divisional  line  between  the  republic  of 
Venezuela  and  British  Guiana.  ...  I  suggest  that  the  Congress  pro 
vide  for  a  commission  to  make  the  necessary  investigation  and  report. 
When  such  report  is  made  and  accepted,  it  will,  in  my  opinion,  be  the 
duty  of  the  United  States  to  resist  by  every  means  in  its  power  .  .  .  the 
appropriation  by  Great  Britain  of  any  lands  which  of  right  belong  to 
Venezuela." 

In  England  the  publication  of  the  message  caused  profound  agita 
tion  and  amazement,  and  aroused  no  little  resentment.  In  Congress  the 
message  was  received  with  approval,  and  the  press,  for  the  most  part, 
applauded  it  as  American,  vigorous,  and  just.  But  there  were  men^of 
influence  in  and  out  of  Congress  who  questioned  the  President's  inter 
pretation  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  the  wisdom  of  confronting 
Great  Britain  with  an  implied  threat  of  war  before  the  merits  of  the 
dispute  were  determined.  The  following  year,  however,  Great  Britain 
receded  from  her  former  refusal  (Secretary  Olney  having  promised  that 
undisputed  possession  of  any  territory  for  fifty  years  should  be  con 
clusive  evidence  of  title,  thus  giving  Lord  Salisbury  an  opportunity  for 
a  graceful  withdrawal)  and  the  dispute  was  happily  settled  by  arbitra 
tion.  On  January  2,  1896,  before  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Mr.  Schurz  delivered  a  strong  speech  on  this  question,  deprecating  the 
prevailing  "jingoism"  and  favoring  arbitration,  —  pursuing  the  same 
general  line  of  argument  found  in  the  oration  in  this  volume. 

30324  Gushing  (1842-1874):  an  American  naval  officer,  noted  on 
account  of  his  exploit  in  blowing  up  the  Confederate  ironclad  ram 
Albemarle  at  Plymouth,  North  Carolina,  on  the  night  of  October  27, 
1864.  He  attacked  her  in  a  small  launch  carrying  a  torpedo.  Forcing 
his  way  within  the  chain  of  logs  which  formed  part  of  her  defense,  he 
exploded  the  torpedo  under  the  ram's  overhang.  —  28  what  a  mocking 
delusion  :  what  kind  of  argument  is  here  employed  ?  Mr.  Schurz's  refu 
tation  of  alleged  reasons  for  war  suggests  also  the  assertions  frequently 
heard  immediately  following  our  war  with  Spain,  —  which  occurred  two 
years  after  this  address  was  delivered,  —  that  the  war  had  aroused  the 
spirit  of  national  patriotism,  and  had  been  especially  helpful  in  reuniting 
the  North  and  the  South. 

304  19  I  have  seen  war :  Mr.  Schurz's  war  record  is  one  of  which 
he  may  well  be  proud.  In  the  spring  of  1863  he  was  commissioned 
a  major-general,  for  meritorious  services.  Soon  thereafter,  President 


SPALDING  367 

Lincoln,  reviewing  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  pronounced  Schurz's 
division  the  most  soldierly  in  the  line.  His  troops,  at  a  heavy  loss, 
checked  the  advance  of  Jackson  at  Chancellorsville  ;  and  at  Gettysburg, 
in  the  defense  against  the  world-famed  charge  of  Pickett,  his  artillery 
was  used  with  fearful  effect.  In  concluding  a  review  of  Schurz's  mili 
tary  career,  Dr.  A.  Jacobi,  who  participated  with  him  in  the  revolution 
ary  movement  for  constitutional  liberty  in  Germany,  says :  "  Thus 
closed  the  military  career  of  a  man  who,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
mastered  the  problems  of  strategy  and  tactics,  who  was  rapid  in  com 
binations  under  fire,  who,  as  his  men  often  boasted,  was  always  himself 
seen  « on  the  firing  line,'  who  was  wise  in  counsel,  magnanimous  in  vic 
tory,  the  friend  of  the  fallen,  foe,  and  among  the  first  to  hold  forth  the 
hand  of  reunion  and  fellowship." 

308  24  Alabama  case  :  the  Alabama  was  a  wooden  steam-sloop  built 
for  the  Confederate  States  at  Birkenhead,  England.  Her  commander 
was  Captain  Semmes,  of  the  Confederate  navy.  Her  crew  and  equip 
ment  were  English.  She  cruised  from  1862  to  1864,  destroying  American 
shipping,  and  was  sunk  by  the  Kearsarge,  off  Cherbourg,  France,  June  10, 
1864.  Claims  for  damages  were  preferred  against  Great  Britain  by  the 
United  States  for  the  losses  caused  by  this  and  other  ships  which  were 
fitted  out  or  supplied  in  British  ports  under  the  direction  of  the  Con 
federate  government.  Thereupon  each  country  appointed  a  commission 
of  representatives  for  the  adjustment  of  such  claims.  The  commission 
met  at  Washington,  and  on  May  8,  1871,  concluded  a  treaty,  known  as 
the  "  Treaty  of  Washington,"  which  referred  the  claims  to  a  tribunal 
to  be  composed  of  five  members,  named  respectively  by  the  govern 
ments  of  the  United  States,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Switzerland,  and 
Brazil.  The  United  States  claimed,  in  addition  to  direct  damages,  con 
sequential  or  indirect  damages;  while  Great  Britain  contended  against 
any  liability  whatever,  and  especially  against  any  liability  for  indirect 
damages.  The  tribunal  awarded  a  gross  sum  of  $15,500,000  in  gold  to 
the  United  States  in  satisfaction  for  all  claims. 

310  19  Therefore,  etc.:  note  the  impact  of  the  brief  Conclusion,  and 
the  effectiveness  of  the  direct  address.  Would  a  general  summary  of 
the  arguments  at  the  opening  of  paragraph  27  strengthen  it  ? 

OPPORTUNITY—  SPALDING 

Bibliography.  Bishop  Spalding  has  written :  Essays  and  Reviews ; 
The  Religious  Mission  of  the  Irish  People ;  America  and  Other  Poems ; 
Songs:  chiejly  from  the  German;  Aphorisms  and  Reflections.  His  ora 
tions  and  addresses  'are  included  in  a  series  of  six  volumes  dealing  with 


368  NOTES 

educational,  sociological,  and  religious  topics,  as  follows  :  Education 
and  the  Higher  Life  ;  Things  of  the  Mind;  Thoughts  and  Theories  of 
Life  and  Education;  Opportunity,  and  Other  Essays  and  Addresses ; 
Religion,  Agnosticism,  and  Education  ;  Socialism  and  Labor  and  Other 
Arguments.  A  memorial  volume,  commemorative  of  the  opening  of 
Spalding  Institute,  1898,  treats  of  Bishop  Spalding  and  his  work. 

Chronology  of  Principal  Addresses.  1899  —  Empire  or  Republic; 
The  University  and  the  Teacher ;  The  University  :  a  Nursery  of  the 
Higher  Life ;  Opportunity ;  The  Patriot ;  Woman  and  the  Higher 
Education.  1901  — Assassination  and  Anarchy.  1902  —  An  Orator 
and  Lover  of  Justice  (eulogy  of  John  P.  Altgeld). 

The  oration,  which,  as  will  be  seen,  is  essentially  a  sermon,  is  a  good 
example  in  the  handling  of  a  subject  which  is  old,  yet  ever  new,  of 
truths  often  presented  yet  eternally  true,  and  hence  always  of  present 
interest.  Such  a  subject,  however,  would  rarely  be  a  desirable  one  for 
a  student  to  attempt,  for  to  say  anything  new  or  original  on  it  would 
be  well-nigh  impossible.  The  originality  must  consist  alone  in  original 
treatment,  —  in  the  new  light  thrown  upon  it,  and  in  the  fresh  manner 
of  expressing  familiar  truths,  —  and  in  this  regard  Bishop  Spalding's 
style  will  repay  careful  study. 

312  26  Ouida  (1840-  )  :  Louise  De  la  Rarnee:  an  English  novel 
ist  of  French  extraction. 

3164  Abdiel :  the  only  servant  in  "Paradise  Lost"  (v.  896)  who 
remained  loyal  when  Satan  incited  the  angels  to  revolt. 

318  8  Kimberley:  the.center  of  the  South  African  diamond  fields, — 
10  one  who  knew  how  to  look;  Cecil  Rhodes. 


SALT  — VAN  DYKE 

Bibliography.  Two  small  volumes,  containing  some  of  Dr.  van  Dyke's 
sermons  and  addresses,  have  been  published:  The  Open  Door  and 
Joy  and  Power.  A  centennial  oration,  delivered  at  the  University  of 
Georgia,  entitled  "  Ruling  Classes  in  a  Democracy,"  was  published  in 
the  Outlook  of  November  23,  1901.  References  to  magazine  articles 
on  Dr.  van  Dyke  as  a  writer  and  preacher  will  be  found  in  Poole's  Index. 

In  striking  contrast  to  many  sermons,  even  a  cursory  reading  of 
Dr.  van  Dyke's  address  will  show  its  unity,  clearness,  cogency,  and  con- 
creteness.  The  Introduction  (paragraphs  I  to  8  inclusive)  consists  of 
an  exposition  of  the  text  and  its  application.  In  the  threefold  division 
of  the  Discussion,  as  indicated  by  the  Roman  numerals,  the  initial  sen 
tence  in  each  division  is. a  key-sentence  which  contains  the  central 
thought  of  that  division,  to  wit :  I.  Men  of  intelligence  may  exercise  an 
influence  for  good  in  the  world,  if  they  will  put  their  culture  to  right 
use  (paragraph  9) ;  II.  Such  men  owe  a  duty  to  society  in  regard  to  the 
evils  which  corrupt  and  degrade  it  (paragraph  13) ;  and  III.  In  perform 
ing  this  duty,  religion  is  essential  (paragraph  20).  The  Conclusion  is  a 
strong,  direct  appeal  to  his  hearers  to  do  their  part  in  the  performance 
of  such  duties  (paragraph.  2 7). 


VAN    DYKE  369 

332  5  Bernardino  of  Siena  (1380-1444)  :  an  Italian  Franciscan  friar 
and  famous  preacher.  —  8  Fra  Angelico  (1387-1455)  :  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  of  the  early  Italian  painters.  His  works  were  made  the 
models  for  religious  painters  of  his  own  and  succeeding  generations.  — 
9  Chevalier  Bayard  (1475-1524)  :  a  French  national  hero,  called  "the 
knight  without  fear  and  without  reproach."  — 10  Sir  Philip  Sidney  :  see 
272  ('),  note.  —  Henry  Havelock  (1795-1857) :  an  English  general  in  India, 
famous  in  the  relief  of  Lucknow,  1857.  —  Chinese  Gordon  (1833-1885): 
an  English  soldier  who  acted  as  adviser  of  the  Chinese  government  in 
its  relations  to  Russia  in  1800.  He  was  killed  at  the  storming  of 
Khartoum,  Egypt.  — 11  Knights  of  the  Holy  Ghost:  L'Ordre  du  Saint- 
Esprit  (The  Order  of  the  Holy  Ghost)  was  an  order  of  knighthood 
founded  in  1578  by  Henry  III,  king  of  France. —  16  Howard  (1726- 
1790) :  an  English  philanthropist,  best  known  for  his  work  in  behalf  of 
prison  reform.  —  Wilberf orce  :  see  17618,  note.  —  Raikes  (1735-1811): 
an  Englisher  publisher,  noted  as  a  philanthropist.  He  was  the  founder 
of  the  modern  Sunday  school.  —  Charles  Brace  (1826-1890) :  an  Ameri 
can  author  and  philanthropist,  associated  in  the  early  work  of  the  "  New 
York  Children's  Aid  Society." 

33327  Richard  Person  (1759-1808):  an  English  classical  scholar, 
famous  for  his  knowledge  of  Greek.  —  28  Thomas  Guthrie  (1803-1873) : 
a  Scottish  clergyman,  orator,  and  philanthropist. 

336  14  cast  a  vote,  etc. :  in  favor  of  Mr.  Bryan  for  president. 

337  22  Ring  in  the   valiant  man   and  free,   etc. :   from   Tennyson's 
"In  Memoriam." 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 


EXTEMPORE   SPEAKING 

FOR  SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE 

By  EDWIN  DuBOIS  SHURTER,  Associate  Professor  of  Public  Speaking  in  the 
University  of  Texas 

lamo,  cloth,  178  pageSj  90  cents 

HT^HERE  is  a  constant  opportunity  to  exercise  the  gift  of  concise  ex- 
A  pression  depending  on  words  born  of  the  moment.  Thus  the  desir 
ability  of  training  students  in  extempore  speech  —  the  art  of  thinking  on 
their  feet  —  must  be  apparent  to  any  thoughtful  observer.  A  pioneer  in 
its  line,  Professor  Shurter's  new  book  will  be  a  welcome  aid  to  teachers 
and  students  alike,  providing,  as  it  does,  specific  examples,  exercises,  and 
a  scholarly  analysis  of  this  difficult  subject.  It  is  a  book  distinctly  modern 
in  treatment,  although  of  a  scope  so  broad  as  to  draw  much  valuable  knowl 
edge  from  the  rich  fund  of  material  in  classical  and  modern  literature. 

EDGAR  G.  FRAZIER,  Assistant  Professor  of  Public  Sneaking  and 
Debate,  University  oj 'Rochester,  Rochester,  N.Y.:  Professor  Shurter's 
Extempore  Speaking  is  admirable.  He  has  done  what  should  have  been 
done  long  ago,  —  given  the  teacher  a  simple  and  common-sense  method  for 
teaching  boys  and  girls  to  speak  extempore.  Nor  is  it  necessary  for  the 
teacher  to  be  a  specialist.  Indeed,  the  book  in  the  hands  of  any  intelli 
gent  instructor  must  prove  a  thoroughly  practical  class-room  text. 


MASTERPIECES  OF   MODERN 
ORATORY 

By  EDWIN  DuBOIS  SHURTER,  Associate  Professor  of  Public  Speaking  in  the 
University  of  Texas 

I2mo,  cloth,  369  pages,  $1.00 

TT^IFTEEN  orations  intended  to  furnish  models  for  students  of  oratory, 
-T  argumentation,  and  debate  are  here  presented.  The  orators  repre 
sented  are  Burke,  Webster,  Lincoln,  Phillips,  Curtis,  Grady,  Watterson, 
Daniel,  Porter,  Reed,  Beveridge,  Cockran,  Schurz,  Spalding,  and  Van 
Dyke.  The  orations  are  edited  with  introductions  and  notes  and,  in 
most  cases,  are  given  without  abridgment. 

JOHN  C.  FRENCH,  Instructor  in  English,  Johns  Hopkins  University : 
Shurter's  Masterpieces  of  Modern  Oratory  is  the  most  satisfactory  col 
lection  of  modern  speeches  that  I  have  seen.  The  selections  are  wisely 
chosen  and  well  annotated. 


36^ 

GINN  AND  COMPANY  PUBLISHERS 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  ROMANTIC  MOVEMENT 

By  WILLIAM  LYON  PHELPS,  A.M.  (Harvard),  Ph.D.  (Yale) 
Professor  of  English  Literature  at  Yale  University 


I2mo,  cloth,  192  pages,  $1.00 


THIS  book  is  a  study  of  the  germs  of  English  Romanti 
cism  between  1725  and  1765.  No  other  work  in  this  field 
has  ever  been  published;  hence  the  results  given  here  are  all 
the  fruit  of  first-hand  investigation.  The  book  discusses,  with 
abundant  references  and  illustrations,  the  various  causes  that 
brought  about  the  transitions  of  taste  from  Classicism  to 
Romanticism,  —  such  as  the  Spenserian  revival,  the  influence 
of  Milton's  minor  poetry,  the  love  of  medieval  life,  the  revival 
of  ballad  literature,  the  study  of  Northern  mythology,  etc.  It 
is  believed  that  this  book  is  a  contribution  to  our  knowledge  of 
English  literary  history ;  and  it  will  be  especially  valuable  to 
advanced  classes  of  students  who  are  interested  in  the  devel 
opment  of  literature.  The  treatment  is  historical  rather  than 
argumentative. 

A  LITERARY  MAP  OF  ENGLAND 

Prepared  by  WILLIAM  LYON  PHELPS,  Professor  of  English  Literature 
in  Yale  University 


Size,  8  X  ioj^  inches,  10  cents 


A  COLOR  map  of  England  on  which  are  indicated  all  the 
towns  and  localities  that  have  distinct  literary  interest.  As  an 
aid  in  the  study  of  literary  geography  it  is  of  great  value. 

37 

GINN  AND   COMPANY  PUBLISHERS 


ENGLISH  POETRY  (1170-1892) 

Selected  by  JOHN  MATTHEWS  MANLY,  Professor  and  Head  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  English  in  The  University  of  Chicago 

4to,  cloth,  xxviii  +  58o  pages,  $1.50 

NO  other  single  volume  equal  in  range  and  price  to  Manly's  "English 
Poetry"  has  yet  been  placed  before  the  teaching  public.  Professor 
Manly  has  brought  together  not  merely  as  many  poe.ms  as  a  teacher 
could  expect  his  class  to  read  in  a  course  on  English  literature,  but  prac 
tically  all  from  which  any  teacher  choosing  those  most  in  harmony  with 
his  own  taste  and  best  suited  to  the  special  needs  of  his  students  would 
wish  to  select.  The  book  includes  some  fifty  thousand  lines  of  poetry, 
ranging  in  date  from  the  beginning  of  the  Middle-English  period  to  the 
death  of  Tennyson.  Two  principles  have  determined  the  choice  of  the 
poems,  —  their  intrinsic  worth  and  beauty,  and  their  special  significance 
in  the  history  of  English  literature.  The  selections  are  unencumbered 
by  notes,  and  historical  and  critical  information  has  largely  been  omitted. 
Explanatory  footnotes  make  clear  the  extracts  from  Middle  or  Early 
Modern  English. 


ENGLISH   PROSE  (1137-1890) 

By  JOHN  MATTHEWS  MANLY,  Professor  and  Head  of  the  Department  of 
English  in  The  University  of  Chicago 

4to,  cloth,  xix  +  544  pages,  $1.50 

'TpHIS  book  is  a  companion  volume  to  Manly's  "  English  Poetry,"  and, 
like  it,  is  intended  primarily  for  use  in  a  general  survey  of  English 
literature.  It  contains  so  much  material,  however,  that  it  will  be  found 
well  adapted  also  for  use  in  many  special  courses.  The  aim  in  both  of 
these  books  has  been  to  afford  the  teacher  an  opportunity  to  make  his 
own  selection  for  class  use.  Long  selections  (usually  whole  pieces) 
showing  sustained  power  and  control  of  organic  structure  have  been 
chosen  in  preference  to  short  bits  of  writing,  however  brilliant. 


38 

GINN  AND   COMPANY  PUBLISHERS 


ENGLISH    LITERATURE 

ITS   HISTORY  AND    SIGNIFICANCE   FOR  THE   LIFE 
OF  THE  ENGLISH-SPEAKING  WORLD 

By  WILLIAM  J.   LONG 


izmo,  cloth,  vi  +  582  pages,  illustrated,  with  frontispiece 
in  eleven  colors,  $1.35 


A  DIRECT,  simple,  interesting  account  of  the  great  periods 
of  English  literature.  The  emphasis  is  always  upon  men 
rather  than  upon  classes  or  periods,  and  upon  literature  rather 
than  upon  what  has  been  written  about  it.  There  is  an  interest 
ing  biography  of  every  great  literary  man  in  his  own  natural  and 
social  environment,  followed  by  a  study  of  his  best  works,  and 
then  a  clear,  concise  summary  or  criticism  of  his  place  and  influ 
ence  in  the  history  of  literature.  The  book  is  delightfully  read 
able,  showing  admirable  judgment  in  the  treatment  of  the  different 
periods,  and  all  the  graces  of  a  finished  prose  style. 

No  English  text-book  in  literature,  of  equal  size,  can  compare 
with  this  in  wealth  and  quality  of  illustrations.  The  frontispiece 
—  The  Canterbury  Pilgrims  —  is  a  lithograph  in  eleven  colors  of  a 
direct  copy  taken  from  a  manuscript  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
is  believed  to  be  the  finest  illustration  ever  printed  in  a  text-book. 

Besides  giving  the  pupil  a  keen  insight  into  English  literature, 
this  book  is  sure  to  stimulate  him  to  read  more  for  himself. 
Bibliographical  helps  and  questions  supply  every  need. 

The  best  text-book  on  English  literature  I  have  ever  met  with. 

HIRAM  CORSON,  Cornell  University 

In  some  respects  far  superior  to  any  other  text-book  of  the  kind. 

A.  I.  SPANTON,  Buchtel  College,  Ohio 

A  trustworthy,  usable,  and  original  book. 

CHARLES  F.  RICHARDSON,  Dartmouth  College 


GINN  AND   COMPANY  PUBLISHERS 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


Jan  3*51  HK 


27JUI5IP 

25Jui5Uu 

-        ,T 

OCT    9 1952  L 


&.1952  k 


LD  21-100lB-ll,'49(E7146sl6)476 


APR  15  1954  LU 


CDS503M7Q1 


